Jump City Symphony
by Japhith
Summary: The 4th and final chapter in the 'Music of Jump City.' The Titans are back together in Jump, where new threats are growing. Before the symphony ends they will face the most deadly enemies they have ever fought, and the world will never be the same.
1. Prelude

_**Prelude to Destruction**_

* * *

**__**

_Inky black clouds of smoke and ash wafted through the blood red sky, proclaiming the Hell on Earth that had come to Jump City. Most of the downtown area was still intact, if you didn't count almost every window having been shattered in every sky scrapper for twelve city blocks. _

_Only one building had truly fallen. In the center of the ruble that had once been the world headquarters for Diamatech International, there was a ceremony taking place. Three witches stood in a circle, chanting in unison and clutching a staff topped with a cup, a coin, and a ring. Next to them a wide open portal pulsed with demonic light and blew hellish winds from it's depths, brining howling laughter with it. _

_The first witch was cloaked in black, her hood throw back, revealing the long jagged cut across her brow. Her pale violet hair blew in the un-natural wind, and her amethyst eyes were fixated on the head of the staff she clutched with her two companions. _

_The second which was much shorter than the other two. She wore a white tunic with a gold and blue design depicting an angel on her breast. A skirt that was slit up both sides revealed her loose white pants, and blue boots. Her brown hair fell in straight lines around her young face, and her eyes burned bright gold as she chanted with her companions. _

_The third and final witch was clad in black leather pants with combat boots and a tight black tank top that exposed her stomach and was held up by two thin straps. She wore a black belt about her waist with all sorts of pouches on it, and had a katana strapped across her back. Her bright pink hair was pushed up into twin points, giving her pale face and pink eyes a sinister feel. _

_Standing a little ways away from the three witches performing their mysterious ritual was another woman, this one dressed red robes with black sashes that were marked with arcane looking runes. Her hood was dropped back, reveling her straight, naturally red hair. Her green eyes scanned the area around her, then snapped almost straight up. She shouted out, "There, Roy!" and pointed. _

_Even as she shouted, a shimmering appeared, then burst into the form of a large winged man with claws and fangs. The monster roared and prepared to dive down at the three witches, who hadn't even flinched at it's appearance. _

_Before the demon could swoop, a shot rang out and one of it's wings was blown from it's body. The red skinned monster fell to the ground with a shrike of pain, then tried to crawl away. _

_A man with red hair and a fair amount of scruff on his face marched into the area the ritual was being held in and pumped the SWAT issue shotgun he held in his hands. He was wearing a red body suit with plates of black armor sewn into key areas to protect his vitals, and had ruby red sunglasses stuck on his face. _

_As he made it up to the crawling demon, he kicked it so that it fell on it's back against a pile of rubble. Pointing the shotgun down at the monsters face with one hand, he put one of his combat boots against the creatures chest to pin it. With a snarl he pulled the trigger and watched the things head explode into a spurt of gore. _

_The red headed woman looked a little queasy, "Did you have to do that?"_

_"Yes." Roy looked over at the three witches, "How are they doing?"_

_"It's hard to say... I'm a mystic, but not a magic wielder." the woman shook her head._

_"Well, just keep sensing out the demons. You're doing very good Omen." _

_Her eyes widened, "Fuck! Arsenal, behind you!" _

_The man now identified as Arsenal spun around and fired without even looking to see what he was shooting. A blue skinned demon had jumped over a pile of rubble and took the shot directly to the chest, blowing a good sized hole in it. _

_"Damnit!" Arsenal shouted, "Rae, hurry up!"_

_If any of the witches heard him, they chose not to show it. _

_"We need back up!" Omen shouted, "You're the only thing keeping us alive right now! They can't fight right now," she nodded to the coven, "and I'm useless in a battle like this! I'm a telepath, not a sword swinging mad-woman like Jenny!" _

_"Try raising one of the sisters. Last I knew Nightwing and Robin were uptown trying to find Brother Blood with Slade and Rose, and Terra, Beast Boy and Cyborg were helping Junior to contain Sabbac. I haven't seen either Starfire or Blackfire for some time though."_

_"What about Red-X?" Omen asked, "Or Kid Flash and Wonder Girl?" _

_Arsenal looked away from her and up at the black clouds and burning black sun, "I haven't seen any of them since the subway collapsed. We have to assume the worst." _

_"No..." Omen shook her head, "They were so young... Brian must have helped them to-"_

_"Don't get your hopes up. No concentrate and tell me where to shoot." _

_Omen cleared her mind and looked around. Her eyes went wide, "Oh no..."_

_"What? What is it?" Arsenal quickly reloaded his gun._

_"They're coming. They know what we're doing..." she quickly dug into her robes and yanked out a yellow communication device emblazoned with a capital T, "This is Omen to all points! We're about to come under major attack at the Diamatech Building! Repeat! We're under attack by at least fifty hostiles-"_

_"Holy shit." Arsenal whispered and looked up at the sky as the clouds started to part. Scores of demons began to dive towards them in a howling mass of teeth and claws. The red haired gunman's face grew grim and he aimed at the sky. _

_Firing off all eight rounds he had in the shotgun, Arsenal watched as eight demons lost their heads. Dropping that gun, he reached behind his belt and yanked out two fully automatic pistols with spiral clips. Flipping the safeties off, he aimed up, "Omen! Sharpen your claws and prepare to fight hand to hand!" _

_"This isn't happening..." Omen set her communicator to auto replay and dropped it. Holding out her hands, which were wrapped in bandages from her elbows to her finger tips, she curled her digits in, and the tips of them sharpened. "We're gonna die." _

_"We're not!" Arsenal took aim, "Get ready!" _

_The chanting from the three witches grew louder as the demons descended, and Arsenal opened fire. The first of the demons reached melee distance, and Omen lashed out at it, ripping into it's face and keeping it from attacking the coven. _

_Blood flew, screams echoed, and the world..._

_The World..._

_The World came to an End._

* * *

Black sheets flew about as Raven jerked up in her bed. She gasped for breath, clutching at her brow. When she pulled her hand away and didn't see blood from the gash, and didn't feel the pain from the demons claws digging into her, she looked about.

The room she shared with Jason was dark, and the clock next to the bed read 2:14 am. Her boyfriend wouldn't be back from night patrol yet, then. She sighed and ran a hand over her face, feeling the buckets of sweat that were pouring off of her.

"What the hell was that?" she asked aloud.

* * *

Down the hall, Jinx was staring at her own pink eyes in the mirror above the sink in the bathroom attached to the room she and Gar shared. She was sure that the dream hadn't been just a dream, but she had lost her magical aptitude. She wasn't psychic like Raven, so that explanation was out as well.

"The hell is going on with me...?"

* * *

One floor down in the Tower, in a dark room with east facing windows, Kylee clutched her sheets up to her nose with wide eyes staring at the ceiling, "What a nightmare..."

She'd ask Raven about it in the morning, she decided, and tried to get back to sleep. Try as she might though, sleep wouldn't come to her again for the rest of the night.

* * *

Across town, in a dingy apartment, a red haired woman sat up suddenly in bed, much like Raven had. Except her sudden bolting was accompanied by a terrified scream.

Next to her, a rather build man stirred and rolled over to look at her, "What the fuck?"

The woman looked down at him, panting, then shook her head, covering her naked body with a sheet, "Nothing... bad dream... sorry for waking you Hank."

"No big deal." Hank eased back into his pillows, then glanced at her, "Hey, uh... you know, if you want to talk about it-"

"It's fine... happens sometimes when I drink too much and bring a bouncer home from the club to fuck his brains out." she grinned at him weakly.

Hank shrugged and smiled back, "Whatever you say, Lilith."

The red head looked away from him and out the window of her bedroom in her apartment. She gazed at the moon, and whispered out one word, "Titans..."

* * *

Jump City Symphony

A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonald

Coming soon.


	2. First Movement: Evolution

Jump City Symphony

A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonald

Opening notes: It's been a long time coming, and here it is. I decided to NOT post all four first chapters at once, and just get these two out there. This story is going to be the longest one yet, so expect it to start slow and build until it's one of the biggest, most expansive Titans stories on this site. I had to put just two categories on this story, but trust me when I say it's going to cover all of them. Action and adventure, romance, humor, horror, angst, super natural, drama and more... This is going to be huge.

Enough rambling. Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Teen Titans.

* * *

_**First Movement: Evolution**_

* * *

**__**

A cool wind blew down the deserted street, pushing along scraps of newspaper and bits of trash. The slums of Jump City weren't a pretty place by any means, and the people that inhabited them lived in a quiet kind of desperation. Crime ran rampant throughout this portion of the city, unchecked by any kind of law enforcement.

As a explosion rent the cold night air, the law enforcement arrived.

The body of a man with a spider for a head limply rolled across the street from where he had been forcefully ejected from the building he had been in moments before. Most of the windows in the condemned building were now blown out, and small fires flicked across the street from the various still burning debris.

Fang pulled himself up on his spider legs and glared about, looking for his prey. The echoes from the explosion quieted, and the night returned to it's relative calm.

"Damnit..." Fang muttered, "Lost him again..."

"Why don't you just give it up, Fang?" The mutant whirled around, facing the opposite side of the street from the building he'd just been blown out of. There, crouching on the hood of an abandoned car, was a dark form with limply hanging shoulder length black hair. Twin points of light stared out of the darkness at the mutant, highlighting the eyes of his assailant.

"I liked you better when you wore brighter colors."

"I liked you better when you were in prison." Nightwing replied, and flicked out his hand. Fang jumped to the side as another explosive went off where he'd just been standing. Spitting a glob of paralysis goo at the Titan, Fang reached into his black leather bomber jacket and pulled out a snub nose .22.

"Come on, Batboy!" he shouted as he fired off two shots at Nightwing, "Show me how you like to play rough!"

The dark suited vigilante dove under the goo and the shots, and came up running at an impossibly fast rate, "Suit yourself." he replied in a dark tone.

Fang jerked back as Nightwing's fist made contact with his neck, then jerked down as the Titan flipped into an over head axe kick that blasted him into the ground. As the mutant tried to struggled to his feet, Nightwing's knee slammed into his face, smashing him onto his back in the street.

Fang groaned and looked up with blurry vision as Nightwing loomed over him, "Sleep tight, Fang." the dark man scowled down at him, then jabbed a high powered taser into his ribs.

Fang's world went black.

* * *

Two miles away in the industrial quarter, gunfire sounded at irregular intervals. Three men were backing down an ally between two large factories, all of them with fully automatic weapons. The one in front of the other two blasted off a few more rounds down at the mouth of the ally.

"Shit!" one of the other men whispered, "Stop blowing off ammo like that, man! You'll give away our position!"

"They already know where we are..." the leader replied in a grim tone, "I'm trying to keep them away!"

The third man, who had a duffle full of stolen jewelry slung over his shoulders, scowled at the other two, "Let's just get the hell out of here! The van's just on the other side of the factory here, and we-"

There was a green flash, and his voice was cut off. The other two men whirled around and started blasting at the point their partner had just been at. There was no one there though, and they stopped after a few seconds.

"Fuck!" the leader swore, "They got the goods!"

"I'll say." came a light female voice from the mouth of the ally. Both men spun around again and started firing at the thin figure silhouetted by the street lamps outside the narrow space. Hunks of rock exploded out of the ground and the bullets simply buried themselves in them.

"That's not going to work, boys." The thin figure started forward, one of the rock shields protecting her as the leader of the gang fired his SMG at her in three round bursts.

"What the fuck do you want? Who are you?" he screamed.

"Didn't you know?" Golden light washed over the two men and they found themselves stuck where they were, the ground around their feet having formed into clumps that surrounded their shoes, planting them firmly, "This is the Titans city."

"What the hell?" the second man looked up in time to see a fist flam into his face. He fell over backwards, and didn't make another sound.

"Shit!" The leader started firing off shots at the blur that had just descended from the sky, but it was too fast. A flash of green light later, and his SMG was a pile of slag in his hands. He dropped the burning metal and tried to run, before remembering that he was stuck.

"What do you want?" he repeated in a terrified tone, looking back up at the glowing golden girl before him. Her blonde hair wafted about her head in a halo of light, and her eyes burned with golden intensity.

"We want you to go to prison." and the girl pounded her fist into his face, knocking him out with one blow.

As Terra stepped back and nodded at her handiwork, the darting green glowing form of Starfire landed next to her. The two women exchanged a high-five and a giggle, and grinned at one another.

* * *

At half past midnight on a Wednesday, Main Street is pretty well deserted in Jump City. All of the shops are closed, most of the restaurants have shut down for the night, and only two bars stay open until 2:00am. Traffic is light, and pedestrians are a rare find.

So it was slightly unusual to find a man running down the middle of the street, screaming frantically and firing off rounds from his .45 into the night behind him. The shadows he was running from seemed to grow longer the further he ran, and the night sky lost any glow it had. Street lamps went out, and the display window of the shops dimmed until they no longer shed light on the sidewalks either.

"Stay away!" the man screamed, firing again.

"You shouldn't have taken what wasn't yours, Stanley." a cold female voice whispered on the wind, "You shouldn't have robbed the pharmacy."

"I already dropped the stuff!" Stanley shouted, "I'm sorry, okay?" he slowed to a stop and sobbed out a miserable plea, "What more do you want?"

"What do I want?" the voice seemed to be hissing right in his ear. The blackness took form, and Raven whispered into Stanley's ear from right behind him, letting her breath tickle his skin, "I want justice!"

Stanley whirled around and fired his weapon again, but Raven just ducked to the side. Coming up from her crouch faster than he could aim again, she slapped the gun from his hand, and shoved her own hand into his chest. A burst of black energy formed between them as her hand stopped inches from his heart, and Stanley was blown across the street and into a brick wall.

As he slumped to the ground, unconscious, the darkness receded from all around and the lights came back. The neon sign above Stan flicked on, reading, "Jesus saves!"

Raven stared at him for a moment, then looked down at her left arm. The bullet had grazed her, and she was bleeding lightly from the wound. "Hmm."

Turning her depthless violet gaze up to the cloudy, moonless December night, she muttered, "It's getting cold."

The dark Titan vanished into a pool of darkness a moment later.

* * *

Heather Moxon sighed and glared at the three year old standing before her, PJ's on, blanket clutched firmly in one hand, and a Bob The Builder Story Time Sounds Book in the other.

"Ophelia Jolin Moxon! I said one story tonight." she held up a finger, "One!"

"But I wanna' hear dis one!" Ophie stomped her little foot.

"You can march yourself straight back to bed is what you can do!" Moxie shooed her daughter along, "It's late, so go on! I'll be in to tuck you back in as soon as I finish cleaning up dinner."

Ophie shoved the book out and wailed, "Story!"

"No!" Moxie growled, "Bed!" and she pointed.

Ophie opened her mouth to shout some more, but a knock on the door cut her off. Moxie looked over, sighed, and then glared back at her daughter, "Bed."

Ophie ignored her mother and watched as the short haired blonde woman walked over to the door of the two bedroom apartment, checked out the peephole, then unlocked it and threw it open. "Come on in, Rae."

Raven walked in, her black cloak trailing behind her as she did, and grinned at the squeal of delight that came from the hallway that led to the bedrooms. Ophie ran out and threw her arms around the psion's legs, hugging her fiercely, "Raven!"

"Hey Ophie." Raven patted the child's head, "Why aren't you in bed?"

"I wanna hear a story!" Ophie presented the book, "Mommy wont read it to me... will you?"

"If mommy says it's bedtime, then it's bedtime, isn't it?" Raven winked, "Go on. I'll come say goodnight before I leave."

"Aw! You aren't staying?"

"Not very long. I just have to talk to you mom for a few minutes."

"Okay..." Ophie sounded disappointed, but perked up again a moment later, "You better come see me 'fore you leave!"  
"I will! Now scram." Raven smiled as the little girl scampered off, then turned to Moxie, who'd been watching the exchange with an amused expression.

"Why will she listen to you, but not her own mother?"

"Why will Kylee clean her room when Nightwing tells her to, but not when I do?"

"Because he's scary." Moxie grinned, "And you're... um..."

"I just made a guy piss himself and run down the middle of Main for twelve blocks before I finally knocked him out, Moxie. If you say I'm not scary, I'm going to slap you with my good arm."

"What's wrong with your other arm?" Moxie arched an eyebrow.

"He shot me." Raven pulled her cloak back and showed the other woman her wound.

"Christ!" Moxie stepped forward, "Let me wrap that up..." She forced Raven into a chair, then went to the kitchen to retrieve her medical kit, "This is the second time this month you've come in here needing to be patched up. If I knew having a super hero for a friend was this much trouble, I'd have bunked with someone else at the academy..."

As Moxie cleaned the wound, Raven asked her, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay." Moxie squinted, "You wont need stitches."

"Moxie..."

The blonde sighed, and reached for a roll of gauze, "I'm still down to about 60 lung capacity, and my shoulder still aches pretty bad when I lift more then twenty or so pounds over my head, but I'll be cleared for active duty again in two weeks." she rolled her eyes, "Get me out from behind that stupid desk, _please_."

"It's safer behind that desk." Raven pointed out, and winced as Moxie wrapped the gauze tighter.

"You're out there almost every night , Raven. Don't give me that 'It's safer' crap."

"Heather, I can stop bullets with my _mind_." Raven glanced at her, "I just worry about you."

"I know. Don't. I've had the same training as every other cop on the force, Rae. If you're not going to have them confined to desk jobs too, then don't try to get me to stay where I am, fetching coffee for Captains with nothing better to do than make me fetch coffee."

Raven laughed a little, "Okay. But you call the Titans if you need anything when you get back out there."

"I'll call for backup, like I'm supposed to." Moxie grinned, "The Titans can show up if they want to."

Raven grinned back, and nodded a thank you as Moxie pinned the gauze in place, "Have Cyborg take a look at it when you get back to the Tower." the blonde ordered, "You going back out?"

"For a few hours, yeah."

"Well be careful. No more getting shot."

"Right." Raven nodded and chuckled, "I'll do my best."

"Good. Go say goodnight to Ophie, then get the hell out of my apartment." Moxie shoved her down the hall, and Raven laughed.

* * *

3:34am came and found Nightwing staring out over Jump City from the top of a skyscraper in the financial district. He flipped open his com unit and spoke into it, "Operator?"

_"I'm here, Nightwing." _the voice of Sarah Simms came through the unit. The visual was never used for the communications hub.

"Checking in. Report."

_"Nothing on the monitored frequencies, and no traffic on the docks. Starfire and Terra signed off a little after 1:00 and came home, and Raven's joining the com call now."_

_"I took a hit taking down the guy who robbed the pharmacy." _came Raven's voice, _"Officer Moxon helped patch me up."_

Dick nodded, "How's she doing?"

_"Back to active duty in two weeks." _

"That's good. Operator? Continue."

_"I've got nothing from the police, and EMS reports only minor injuries and illnesses." _

"Titans East?"

_"Nada."_

"Robin?"

_"Safe as houses."_

"How's Blackfire?"

_"Dozed off an hour ago. I moved her to the couch." _

Nightwing grinned, "We're done out here, Rae. Let's pack it in."

* * *

Nightwing and Raven met each other in the garage and nodded a greeting, "Arm okay?" he asked as he peeled off his mask.

"I'll live." Raven rolled the injured shoulder and stepped on to the elevator with him. As the doors shut and they started up, she studied him.

"What?" he asked with a light smile.

"You're worried."

He nodded and his smile slipped away, "We haven't had any luck digging up the leads we need to find out who's operating in our city. Stopping small time crooks and metehuman escapees is all well and good, but if we can't get to the real slime, Jump City could be done for."

"How do you say stuff like that and make it sound so dire?"

"Stuff like what?"

Raven put on a stupid face, "Jump City could be done for..." she returned her expression to it's normal calm impassiveness, and continued, "You sound like Captain Marvel."

"Marvel is a very nice guy." Nightwing grinned as Raven rolled her eyes, "He's just a little old fashioned is all."

"He's a stiff."

"And when we met him and CM Junior showed up, you didn't stop making eyes at him the whole time." he poked her good arm.

"I was fourteen, Dick. You were the only other male my age I had ever met at that point, and if I had been crushing on Junior, you would have known it because half the buildings in Faucet City would have been leveled."

Nightwing chuckled, "You've become a real brat, you know?"

"Excuse me?" Raven's eyes glowed dangerously.

The black haired young man wasn't even fazed. He just pointed at her, "You can't even take a little ribbing without getting all defensive."

"It's late."

"Early."

"Whatever." Raven rolled her eyes as he chuckled again, and the doors to the elevator opened as it stopped.

They stepped out into the main level of the Tower and both of them froze.

Changeling was sitting on the couch, facing away form them, and gasping as a head of bubble gum pink hair was bobbing up and down rapidly in his lap.

"Shit...! Fuck, Gar!" Nightwing covered his eyes and turned away.

Raven sighed and buried her face in her hands, "I can't believe I ever slept with either of you."

Jinx jumped up from Changeling's lap and wiped her mouth quickly, "Oh! Uh... hi guys! Just came down for a late night snack... shit, that doesn't sound good, does it?" she looked over at her boyfriend, who shrugged, "We're just... um..."

"Just... don't ever do it again, okay?" Nightwing was still turned away, "Raven? Could you find a hot poker for my eyes, please?"

"Will a steak knife and a fire from the stove's burner do?"

"Yeah, that'd be peachy."

Changeling zipped up quickly then stood from his seat on the couch, "Uh... come on Jenny... let's go to bed."

"But my snack!" Jinx whined. She glanced over at Raven and Nightwing and paled a little at the glares she received, "Um... not so hungry anymore..." and she dashed after her lover, "Wait up, Baby!"

As the two ducked into the elevator and the doors shut, Nightwing sagged against the kitchen counter, "Damn it all..."

"I'd post rules for where and when you can have sex around this Tower if there weren't younger kids running around here." Raven floated over to the sink and took a glass down from a cupboard. Filling it with water, she took a sip, "Speaking of which, Kylee has a training session with you tomorrow. Don't forget."

"I wont." Nightwing stood up, "I'm going to go see if Kori is still awake... after that little fiasco, I think I might need some lovin' tonight too."

"Roy's sound asleep." Raven sighed, tilted her head to the side and then looked over at Nightwing again, "So is Kori."

"Shoot."

"Well, we could just throw down right here and sate our lust on each other..."

"And I'd end up with seven arrows sticking out of my face, and you'd end up vaporized in a hail of starbolts..." Nightwing shook his head with a smile, "Sleep is all this night has left for us, Raven."

"Heh. Goodnight, Dick."

"Night Raven." and he watched her teleport away.

Sighing, he started for the elevator that Changeling and Jinx had taken before, "Seven arrows is almost worth it..."

A voice echoed in his head, _"I heard that." _

Nightwing grinned.

* * *

Kylee walked down the hallway of West Jump City Public Middle School the next day, sighing in defeat as she hoisted her backpack up a little. She was sure she'd bombed the history test she'd just had, and when Raven found out she was slipping in her school work, she'd cut back on the magic studies Kylee did every day.

"Like any thing they teach us here is important in the line of work I want to go in to..." she muttered as she turned into her next period classroom.

And right into another student.

"Oof!" she said as she fell back, the other girl falling as well. Looking up, Kylee blinked at the blonde girl she'd just knocked down, and smiled sheepishly, "Sorry..."

"Don't sweat it. My fault for standing right in the doorway..." the other girl was pretty, with shoulder length blonde hair and deep blue eyes. She sat up and rubbed her back, "You in a hurry to get to your seat or something?"

"Not really... just used to rushing around at home."

"Busy body huh?" the other girl stood and helped Kylee up.

"Not really. Just a lot to do, and keeping up with my... uh... roommate I guess is kind of hard sometimes."

The pretty girl arched an eyebrow, "Roommate?"

"I live in the same place as Bart Allen. Do you know him...?" Kylee tilted her head to the side, leaving the question open ended.

The girl grinned a little, "Yeah, I know him. I'm Cassie by the way." and she stuck out her hand, "Cassie Sandmark."

* * *

Bart Allen's English teacher was droning on about prepositions, and most of the class was barely awake. The man was speaking in a monotone, and hardly anyone was taking notes.

One particular student with auburn hair and amber colored eyes wasn't falling asleep at all. He wasn't taking notes either. He wasn't even listening.

Mostly because he was already asleep, he never took notes, and if he listened to any teachers, it was most likely because he was getting yelled at.

"... so as you can see, there are..." the teacher trailed off as a snore split the air of his classroom. All eyes swung over to Bart as he shifted a little where he sat at his desk, his head resting on his folded arms. He muttered in his sleep, "So'kay, Wally... I'll just run home tonight and...mmggffmmm..."

"Mr. Allen, you will not disrupt my class like this!" the teacher shouted.

Bart didn't even stir.

"MR. ALLEN!"

* * *

"So you live with Bart Allen huh?" Cassie asked Kylee as they pulled out their French class notes.

"Yeah. Not in the same room or anything, and we're not like... dating or anything... like that..." Kylee blushed.

"Who do you have watching you?" Cassie tilted her head to the side.

"We actually live with a bunch of other teenagers... my guardians officially have custody over us." Kylee looked away.

"Oh... so your parents...?"  
"They were killed in the zombie attack last spring." Kylee looked back at Cassie, "But don't worry!" she cut off her new friends apology, "I've got really good foster parents now, and they're teaching me so much..."

"What're their names?"

"Um..." Kylee thought for a second. Raven had always told her not to spread it around who she lived with, but if she was asked directly, she shouldn't be afraid to answer, "Roy Harper and... Raven Roth."

"Raven? Didn't think anyone other than the Titan had that name..."

"Um..." Kylee looked away, "Yeah."

Cassie's eyes went wide, "Holy crap! You live-" she cut herself off, looked around, then leaned in and whispered, "You live with the Titans?"

"Yeah." Kylee nodded, a blush staining her cheeks.

"That's... omigod... who the heck is Roy Harper?" Cassie looked confused.

"Arsenal." Kylee responded. The other girl blinked. "Speedy." Kylee clarified.

"Oh... oh yeah, he changed his name." Cassie nodded, "That's like... so cool."

"Uh huh."

"Why does Bart live there?"

"He's... special... like me."

"You're a meta?" Cassie sat back a little.

"No!" Kylee waved her hands, "No, I'm just... Raven is teaching me magic."

"Magic?"

"Yeah. And Bart is learning to um... be the next Flash."

"I knew I saw him moving too fast for a normal person..." Cassie palmed a fist, "That explains so much!" her tone sounded forced to Kylee, who thought she sensed a deception, but decided to give her new friend the benefit of the doubt.

"Tell me about it. I'm constantly stretching my awareness to see if his astral pattern is around to make sure he's not spying on the girls in the changing rooms by vibrating his body so fast he can't be seen in the normal spectrum."

Cassie blinked at her.

Kylee blushed again and rubbed her head, "Heh... It's a gift..."

* * *

Bart winced as his teacher continued to shout at him.

"And further more, Mr. Allen, if you so much as doze for a second for the rest of the semester I'll-"

He was cut off as a loud snore escaped Bart's mouth.

The teacher stepped back, walked to his desk and wrote out a hall pass. Turning around again, he handed it to a young man sitting in the first row of desks, "Mr. Hathorn, please wake up Mr. Allen and tell him that he will be spending the rest of this period in the Principals office."

"Y-yes Sir." Hathorn stood up and walked to the back of the room. Hesitantly, he poked the auburn haired young man, "Hey, Bart…"

"What?" Bart grunted, "I'm tired Jimmy, let me sleep."

"Uh, Mr. Bagshot says you have to go to the Principals office."

"Again?" Bart sat up and looked at Jimmy Hothorn with blurry eyes, then over at Mr. Bagshot, "What'd I do this time?"

The whole class groaned.

* * *

A man flew through the air inside McGreggor's Pub, slamming into the wall of liquer behind the bar and shattering most of the stock. He landed on the ground amide a shower of booze and broken glass, out cold.

The girl who'd just hurled him there stood in the middle of the pubs floor, several tables around her smashed or knocked over. Four men surrounded her, but she grinned at them anyway, her pink eyes glinting with malice.

"You boys really want to keep this up? I can go all day…" The tight black top she wore exposed her stomach, and her leather pants with the Titan 'T' on them creaked as she shifted stance.

"The McGreggor's don' take shite from no one… least of all punk bitches like you…" one of the red haired men shouted, and lunged forward.

Jinx slammed a hard right into his face, dropping him instantly. She dodged to the side a moment later as a pool cue whizzed past her head, then dropped down low into a sweep kick, knocking over one of her assailants.

An arrow tipped with a tear gas head shot into the pub and exploded on the man with the pool cue, and he gagged and fell over, clutching at his face as he dropped his makeshift weapon.

Arsenal strode in, shouldering his bow and yanking out an extendable night stick. Whiping it open, he walked right up to the man he'd just dropped and cracked him smartly across the skull, knocking him out.

Jinx meanwhile, had backed the last two men into a corner, and delivered a vicious snap kick to one of their faces, blasting him off his feet and out of consciences. As blocked the last man's weak punch, she coiled her body to spring into him and slam him down as well.

From behind her, the man she'd dropped with the sweep kick grabbed her shoulder and yanked her off her feet. She shouted in alarm as he pitched her into a table, where she caught herself and regained her balance. The thug was fast though, and he was on her in a second, throwing a strong right directly into her mouth.

Jinx cried out and toppled over, just as Arsenal surged past her and slapped the man across the face with his stick. A quick chop to the back of the neck later and he went down.

The last of the McGreggor boys grabbed up a broken table leg and turned to face off with Arsenal, but found himself staring down the barrel of a 9mm handgun, pointed at his chest.

"Drop it and get your hands up." Arsenal ordered in a cold tone. The man dropped his club and put his hands up. Arsenal nodded, then glanced at Jinx, "You okay, Jenny?"

"Hrmmph…" Jinx replied as she picked herself up off the ground, her hand over her mouth. Blood seeped through her fingers as she shook her head.

The red haired archer turned back to his prisoner, "Tell me about Intergang." He chambered the gun, "Now."

The man stuttered, "We only run shipments! We don't use the weapons!"

"Tell me where you pick up." Arsenal narrowed his eyes and lowered his weapon so it was pointing somewhere highly uncomfortable to be shot.

"We pick up at pier 14! Honest!"

"If you're lying to me," Arsenal growled, "you're going to find yourself in need of new reproductive organs." He raised his weapon, and fired.

The rubber bullet grazed the man's temple and his head jerked to the side. He fell to the ground out cold.

Arsenal nodded and walked over to where Jinx was still trying to sit up, "Let's get you out of here." He took her arm and lifted her off the ground, then slowly walked her out of the ruined pub.

* * *

As French class ended, Kylee stood up and started tucking away her notes. Cassie sat nearby, doing the same thing. She looked over at Kylee and smiled.

"So… do you know any other super heroes other than the Titans?"  
Kylee shook her head, "Nightwing forbade the Justice Leauge from entering the Tower, so they stay away."

"Really? Why?"

"He's never said, but I suspect that he doesn't trust them… and that it has something to do with a little bit of bad blood between him and Batman."

"Hmm." Cassie scratched her head but smiled anyway, "Alright."

"Yeah." They stepped out of the class room, and were immediately stopped by a ring of students. Kylee frowned and shoved through, Cassie close on her heals. As they broke through the circle, they saw what was causing the commotion.

A young man by the name of Joe Mirminstien was cowering away from a group of four larger young men. Eighth graders it looked like.

"So Joey," the largest and meanest looking of the bunch said, "you think snitching on us is going to make your friends?"

Joe, who was in Kylee's first period English class, cowered back against the lockers in the hall and shook his head, "Look, I didn't know who was smoking in the bathroom! I just told the Principal about it because he was nearby-"

"Shut up!" and the large eighth grader back handed Joe to the floor.

Kylee dropped her back pack and started forward, a look of grim determination on her face. A hand held her back though, and she looked to see who it was.

Bart stood next to Cassie, shaking his head. He leaned in and hissed, "Just leave it alone! We need to maintain a low profile."

"When did you get here?" Cassie looked a little freaked out and took a step back.

"Bart, let go of me." Kylee's eyes were blazing with anger, and the speedster let go with a sigh.

"You're going to get in trouble." He said.

Kylee ignored him and started marching towards the bullies. Bart sighed again and stepped up next to Cassie. She looked at him funny.

"You didn't tell me you had a girlfriend."

"We're not dating, Wond-" he stopped and shook his head, "Cassie."

Cassie rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the fight.

* * *

"Okay, Jenny." Arsenal said as he leaned against the wall of an ally just a few buildings down from the pub they'd just trashed, "Something's bugging you. Let's hear it."

"It's nothing." Jinx muttered, pulling the rag she held to her face away for a moment, then putting it back. It was soaked with blood.

"Bullshit." Arsenal rolled his eyes, "You're acting all agitated. If it's about what happened back there-"

"Of course it's about what happened back there!" Jinx shouted, tossing the bloody rag at him. Arsenal caught it and stepped back as she got in his face and grit her blood smeared teeth at him, "You see this? It fucking hurts!"

"You got punched in the mouth, Jen, it's going to."

"And I shouldn't have been hit at all!" She stomped away and whirled back around, "If I still had my powers, I'd have sensed his aura before he was close enough to grab me. Hell, if I still had my powers, I would have taken all four of those thugs down with no trouble at all!"

"You're doing remarkably well for someone who's lost the majority of their tricks, Jinx."

"Fuck that." Jinx scowled at him, "Dick only has me out here on the day shift because it's less intense. He knows I can't hack it with the big boys yet. I'm making stupid, full on amateur mistakes."

Arsenal sighed and let her continue to rant, "It's not enough. I need to be better, Jason, and I'm not getting that just training at the Tower and pummeling third string thugs who _still_ kick my ass. Why do you think you're out here with me?"

"Because two Titans on a lead is better than one?"

"Because Nightwing knows I can't hack it alone!" Jinx shouted.

Silence descended over the ally, and after a few moments, Arsenal spoke again, "You're being too hard on yourself."

"No," Jinx shook her head, "I'm really not."

Arsenal stared at her for a second, then looked away, "Let's get back to the Tower and report. I have a feeling we'll be staking out Pier 14 tonight."

"Fine." Jinx stalked past him, and out of the ally.

* * *

Kylee grabbed the lead bullies arm as she made it up next to him, "Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

He looked startled, and turned around to see the much shorter girl in front of him. "Who the hell are you?"

"Not important. Just back off and let Joe go."

"Wha… get the hell out of my sight! I don't care if you're a girl or not, bitch, I'll kick your ass just the same!"

Kylee half smirked, "Really? If you think you can…" she took a step back and motioned him forward.

Back behind her, Bart groaned, "Please don't hurt him, Kylee."

Cassie looked worried, "Can she?"

"Oh yeah." Bart looked worried too, "She can-"

The bully took one step forward and threw a hard, but sloppy right hook at Kylee. She simply ducked and came back up hard, plowing her fist into his jaw and snapping his head up. She followed up with a left jab in his ribs, knocking him aside.

Cassie's mouth dropped open and she looked over at Bart. He smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head, "She's a big fan of that uppercut."

The other three bullies were closing in on Kylee now, and she moved into a flurry of motion. A jump up and knee to the nose of the first one, then a low spin and sweep when she landed, taking the second one off his feet. She came up, finishing her spin in a hard right hand haymaker, blasting the third young man off his feet and crushing his nose in the process.

Bart took a few steps back and muttered, "Raven's gonna kill her…"

All four boys looked to be down for the count, and Kylee un-tensed her fighting stance, "Is that it? Big tough guys like you can't even stand up to one little girl like me?" The hall was completely silent, and she huffed, "Fine. Joe, are you okay?"

Joe was staring up at her with wide eyes, "Where the hell did you learn all that?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." She held out a hand to help him up, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine… my sister hits harder than that guy, but you-"

"Miss Rodgers." Kylee froze as the cold voice of the Principal echoed down the hallway from where he stood behind the crowd of students, "I think you'd better come with me down to my office."

* * *

Jinx sighed as she stepped into the medical room in Titans tower, and took in the sight of Raven taking stock of their supplies. "Hey." She said.

"Jason called and said you'd been hit in the mouth. Anything I need to look at?"

"I'm fine. Just a few loose teeth and a chunk gone from my tongue."

"Gar will be in mourning about your tongue, I'm sure."

Jinx giggled, "Sorry you saw that last night. We didn't expect you guys to be back until later."

Raven rolled her eyes and placed her clipboard on it's peg on the wall next to the supply cabinets, "Obviously. Did you need something?"

"Just… do you think I can still do this?"

Raven blinked at her, "Where did that come from?"

"I made a ton of stupid mistakes today, and I just… I don't feel confident without my powers."

"You still have your metahuman abilities, Jen. You just need to learn how to use them to your greatest advantage without the magical enhancement you're used to."

"And my fighting is weak." Jinx continued to tick things off on her fingers, "And I'm going to get someone killed if I keep this up, and my strength sucks, and-"

"Fine!" Raven held up a hand, "You suck, okay?"

Jinx rolled her eyes, "Thanks."

"I'll talk to Dick. Maybe we can…" she trailed off seeing the look Jinx was giving her, "Or, maybe not."  
"It's just not enough here, Rae."

"So maybe you'll have to leave for a while to find what you're looking for." Raven smiled gently, "Whatever it is."

"Yeah, maybe I should look into a dojo in Kyoto that I've heard-"

She was cut off as Raven's T-Comp buzzed. They both blinked and Raven pulled it out and flipped it open, "Raven here."

_"Miss Roth?" _the link was voice only, and Raven read the ID as being West Jump City Public Middle School, _"This is Principal Hampton from West Jump Middle."_

"Hello, Principal Hampton… is Kylee okay?" a note of fear crept into the psion's voice.

_"Oh, she's perfectly okay. I just need to see you about her. Now."_

Raven blinked, "Okay. I can be there in a few minutes."

_"I'll be waiting for you in my office when you arrive." _And the line went dead.

"Kind of a jerk, isn't he?" Jinx offered.

"I get the feeling that he's not very happy with Kylee or myself at the moment." Raven's eyes narrowed, "Oh, she's going to be in _so_ much trouble when I find out what this is about…"

* * *

Raven appeared to melt from the shadows of the office of West Jump Middle, stepping into the light and making the two secretaries screech. She rolled her eyes, "I'm here to see Principal Hampton about my foster child, Kylee Rodgers. Where are they?"

"In his office." One of the frightened woman pointed down a hallway, and Raven nodded her thanks. She started towards the door, her low heals clicking as she walked.

She'd dressed normally for this visit, with a calf length black skirt and a fuzzy v-neck violet sweater. Her hair was pulled back in a pony tail, being long enough now to reach down between her shoulder blades.

Stopping outside the door, she reached out and knocked. A voice from the other side murmured, "Come in." so she did.

What she saw was a grim looking man in his fifties sitting behind an oak desk, glaring at Kylee, who sat in a chair in front of the desk, looking miserable. Raven arched an eyebrow and shut the door behind her. She took the other hair in front of the desk and addressed Principal Hampton.

"So… what's this all about that you had to be so rude over the phone?"

"Miss Roth…" Hampton turned his glare on her, "The State gave you custody of Miss Rodgers because you were uniquely suited to assist her in recovering from the horrors she witnessed last summer." He stood halfway up out of his chair and his voice grew louder, "They did not give Kylee to you so you could turn her into the next Bruce Lee!"

Raven's violet gaze turned to Kylee, "What did you do?" she asked calmly. Kylee could see the anger burning in those purple orbs though, and she shrank back.

"A friend of mine was in trouble! They were going to beat him up!"

Raven frowned and looked back at the Principal, "What is this all about?"

"I have four boys in the nurses office right now, all of them twice Kylee's size. All of them also have broken noses and jaws, Miss Roth." Hampton glared harder.

"I see." Raven looked back at her foster child, "Kylee… we teach you how to fight for a reason… not so you can save the day in your Middle School by beating the crap out of people who don't stand a chance against you. You're training is for fighting hardened criminals, not fourteen year old boys."

"Fifteen." Kylee muttered.

"Miss Roth," Principal Hampton addressed her as he sat back down, "this school has a very strict zero tolerance policy. Your foster child is being suspended for a week. In that time, I suggest you and the other Titans help her with her school work rather than teaching her how to break the law and hurt people. You vigilantes do know what the law is, correct?"

Raven snapped her harsh gaze on him and pinned him with it. She reached down into the pocket of her skirt and pulled out a folio, which she flipped open. She showed him the shinny badge inside and he swallowed hard, "I'm a police officer, Mr. Hampton. I _am_ the law."

"Oh… I had no idea you were…"

"We train Kylee to defend herself because we have many enemies who would use her to hurt us. She has to be prepared."

"Oh, I-"

"Didn't know. And yet you jumped to conclusions anyway." Raven broke off her glare and motioned to Kylee, "Get your things and meet me out front." Turning back to the Principal, she arched an eyebrow, "Anything else?"

"Um… yes. Mr. Allen will be serving a detention today. He's been falling asleep in class."

"What does this detention entail?" Raven sighed.

"We're going to have him scrub the desks clean."

"I'll see him at home a few minutes later than normal then." Raven waved it off, "Don't worry. It'll seem like hours to him." And she walked to the door as Kylee left. Pausing, she turned back to Hampton, "Don't ever try to tell me I'm not raising my child correctly, Mr. Hampton. You have no room to talk, since your wife left you with both of your children eight years ago."

"What?" he paled.

"Don't think the Titans don't know everything about all of the staff in this building. I want the kids to have a positive learning experience, Mr. Hampton, and I want them to be in a public school where they can interact with normal kids their age… but I don't want them in any danger." Hampton began to sweat, "Don't criticize others in areas you yourself have failed at." Raven scowled at him, "And don't piss me off."

As the door to his office clicked shut, Hampton slouched down and let out a sigh of relief.

* * *

When Nightwing and Starfire decided to share a room, hers became their sleeping quarters, and his became a dark, almost cave like place full of computers and other various devices that no one other than Nightwing and Cyborg really knew anything about. Star had commented to Jinx once that it reminded her a great deal of the Bat Cave, and Jinx was inclined think it probably did.

It was in that dark place that the pink haired vixen found Arsenal and Nightwing. The red haired archer was leaning over the back of the chair Nightwing was sitting in, positioned in front of the massive main computer screen. After a moment of her staring at them, Nightwing looked up with an annoyed expression, "Do you have to hover like that, Roy?"

"No. But it bugs you, so I figured what the heck?"

Nightwing swatted him away and looked back behind him, "Come in, Jen."

Jinx walked in, and over to where the two of them stood, "So?"

"It's solid intel." Nightwing punched up a few new windows, "Pier 14 is in a particularly good spot for smuggling, since it's so far recessed into the mainland. Harder to get in that far, but worth it in that it has several large warehouses around it to block any easy attack points. There's also no good place for a security camera, so there's no visual records of anything going on there."

"And we didn't check into this before, why?" Jinx arched an eyebrow.

"We _have_ been checking. I've had Blackfire and Sarah on it for over a month, and Changeling drops by every patrol he does." Nightwing shook his head, "They've been careful is all, and they're good at hiding in plain sight. But we have them now. We know they're going to be there tonight."  
Arsenal nodded an affirmative, "So, are we go?"

"No." Nightwing didn't look away from the computer.

"Excuse me?" Arsenal blinked, "No?"

"I have another case for the two of you tonight." the dark haired Titan handed a file to Jinx over his shoulder, and another to Arsenal. "You might want to take a nap. It's an all-nighter."

Jinx flipped open the file and started reading, while Arsenal's face clouded with anger, "So... what? We've been out there every day tracking down the intel that's lead to this bust, and you're just gonna shove us off so you can grab all the glory."

"You know that's not the case." Nightwing shook his head, "I'll actually be off doing something completely different. Raven, Changeling, Starfire and Cyborg will be covering Pier 14."

"What are _you _doing?" Arsenal scowled at him.

"Training."

"Who?"

"Your foster child, Roy, so don't get so pissed at me."

"What's Kylee doing tonight? It's a school night!"

"I-"

"Dick..." Jinx broke into their argument, "What... the fuck... IS THIS?" and she hurled the file at his head. Nightwing put up a hand to ward off paper cuts, and stared at Jinx with an unwavering gaze.

"What?"

"This... you..." she was shaking with rage, "You want me to go undercover at a _strip club_?"

"Yes." Nightwing nodded.

"What?" Arsenal took a step back, "Why do I have to be there?"

"Because I want her to have a sniper as back up."

"But-"

Jinx shoved Arsenal out of her way and got right up in Nightwing's face, "Why do I have to be the stripper?"  
"Because you're the most qualified." Nightwing remained calm.

_"What?"_ Jinx was livid, "Oh, you did not just... is that how little you think of me? Just because I happen to enjoy sex doesn't make me a shameless slut!"

"Jenny-"

"You pompous asshole! Why don't you send your own damn girlfriend down there! She's got a better body than I do by a mile!"

"Jinx, listen to me-"

"Fuck you, Dick! No way am I doing this! What the fuck makes you think I'm qualified to be a Goddamn _stripper_?"

Nightwing glared at her in the silence of the room for a full ten seconds, then spoke out in a clipped tone, "Because you have a background in dance, Jen. You're the only female Titan in the Tower that can dance."

Jinx opened her mouth to shout again, but paused, "Wait, what?"

"Raven, for all her knowledge and skill, doesn't know how to dance like you do. Starfire's people don't dance so much as... well... it's hard to explain. Komi is pregnant, Sarah needs to be at the keyboard for tonight's sting on the docks, Terra couldn't be less coordinated unless she had a concussion, and I'll be damned if I'm going to send Kylee into a strip joint at the age of thirteen."

"Wait..." Jinx shook her head, "Raven can too dance! She and Jason go out dancing all the time!"

"Not all the time, but I see his point." Arsenal nodded, "Raven knows how to waltz, she knows how to tango, and she even knows the chicken dance... which is hilarious to watch her do, by the way... but she doesn't know... gymnastics."

Jinx blinked, "Huh?"

Nightwing sighed, "Have you ever been to a strip club before, Jenny?"

"Well, yeah. Giz and Mammoth were all about big titties."

"Then you know how strippers dance. And you're the best fit for that style."

Jinx made an 'O' with her mouth, then scowled again, "Still. It's pretty fucking insulting."

"Did you read the file, Jinx?" Nightwing's glare grew stone cold, "Those girls are _dying_." He turned around and called up another window on the computer. The faces of four girls came up, and her turned back to Jinx, "These four girls were dragged into an ally after they left the club, beaten to within an inch of their lives, raped, and left for dead. Three of them didn't make it, and the fourth one is in a coma at Jump City General as we speak."

Jinx looked grim all of a sudden, then looked away. "Fine. I'll do it."

"It's just one night, Jinx, and you might not even have to dance-"

"Oh, hell no..." Jinx grinned suddenly, "If I'm doing this, I'm doing it all the way. Strippers make _bank_ on tips."

Arsenal grinned, "Excited now?"

"No, but I'm gonna take that money I make, and take Kori out to the sex shop. We're gonna get her a some stuff to keep herself happy with, and we'll see if we can't find... oh, I dunno... maybe the biggest, most painful looking butt-plug they have. Then I'll brainwash her into using it on her boyfriend." Jinx grinned an evil grin at Nightwing, then scooped up her file. "See ya!" and she flounced out of the room.

"You think she's serious?" Arsenal looked back at Nightwing with a grin.

Nightwing look frightened, "Oh... I _know_ she's serious. And that's what scares the shit out of me."

* * *

With a clink, the plastic disk fell into the slot at one end of the air hockey table in the Tower's living room. Changeling, suited up in full uniform, threw his hands up, "Nooo! How are you so _good_ at this?" he demanded of the blonde girl he was playing against.

Terra did a little dance, and giggled. She was wearing her normal short shorts, and a white baby-t with a Super Man logo on the front of it that rode up dangerously close to her breasts as she threw her hands up. Her bare feet slipped across the floor as she danced and she replied, "Same way I always beat you in racing games and ping pong! Practice!"

As she giggled and spun away from the table one last time, she ran into someone, who caught her with strong hands. Looking up with wide blue eyes, Terra saw Blackfire floating in front of her wearing jeans and a maternity tunic top. "Uh... sorry."

The Tamaranian smiled down at her, "No problem, Tee. But Gar has a wild imagination, and a girlfriend, so watch this." and she tugged down on Terra's shirt, pulling it back down over the bit of her breasts it had ridden up over.

Both girls turned and regarded Changeling with arched eyebrows, who shrugged, "What? In a world where I get to hang out with super-chicks with Olympian-like bodies, I'm not about to complain about a free show."

The elevator doors opened, and Jinx strode out, followed by Arsenal, "Come on, Jenny! It's just work! It's not like I-"

"Tell it to Raven." Jinx grinned at him.

"She'd want to see to, just to make sure-"

"No." They stopped next to Changeling, and Jinx grabbed his arm, "Come on, I need you to tell me if I make a good stripper or not."

"What?" Changeling looked confused.

"While I'm sure he's seen more than his fair share of strippers, Jason isn't going to be my first test audience. I need my man."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'll tell you on the way to our room."

"Jen, are you okay? Wait... is this about the mission Dick said he had for you?" Jinx was dragging him towards the elevator.

"Um... maybe."

"Maybe? He wants you to be a stripper? Oh, that sonofa-" the doors to the elevator closed, and Terra, Blackfire and Arsenal all blinked and glanced at each other.

"He wants her to strip?" Terra asked.

"Yeah." Arsenal nodded, "She's the only one qualified."

"Oh, so the rest of us don't have good enough bodies?" Terra looked miffed, and Blackfire rolled her eyes, patting her rounded stomach.

Arsenal rolled his own eyes and started for the kitchen, "She can dance, Tara, and besides, you have almost no boobs. Guys at strip clubs like big ol' titties."

Blackfire giggled, and Terra stomped her foot, "I'm tellin' Brian you were talking about his woman like that!"

"Oh, so scared." Arsenal winked at her from where he was opening the refrigerator, "He might try to beat me up, and then I'd have to hand his ass back to him in a bag."

Terra finally broke into a smile and giggled, "That was funny when you two were sparring last week. I don't think he expected to be beaten so quickly."

"That suit of his... Dick's... his... whatever. It makes him over confidant."

"A problem he'll have to over come before he'll be a good combatant." a voice from the doorway to the garage elevator said, and Raven strode into the room with Kylee next to her. The younger girl had her head down in a dejected manner, and she glanced up at the other adults in the room, then back down at the floor as she entered.

Raven stopped her in the kitchen and spoke down to her, "Kylee, tell Jason what you did today at school."

"Um..." Kylee looked up at him and he arched a red eyebrow over cool blue eyes. She fidgeted, then burst out, "I stopped four kids three years older than me and twice my size from beating up a friend of mine."

"Really?" Arsenal's face broke into a grin.

"Jason..." Raven's voice had a warning tone, and the archer put a serious look back on his face. The violet haired Titan turned back to her foster child, "And?"

"I, uh... broke all of their noses and knocked them all out."

"Yeah!" Blackfire pumped a fist in the air, "That's my girl!"

"Not helping, Komi." Terra turned around and grabbed the amber skinned girls hand, pulling her across the room as she floated. She called over her shoulder, "Sorry guys."

"She's going to be a great mother." Arsenal grinned after the two woman as they vanished into the elevator that led to the upper levels.

"You're not helping either." Raven growled.

Arsenal sighed, "Rae, it's what we trained her to do."

"We didn't teach her to beat up un-trained fifteen year old boys, Jason-"

"But we did train her to help people in need." he turned to Kylee and knelt down in front of her, so she was a little taller than him. Speaking up to her, he frowned, "What you did was wrong, Kylee. Find a less violent way next time."

"Yes sir." she nodded and he grimaced.

"Please don't call me that. You make me feel like Dick."

Raven grinned at that and poked him, "So much for being second in command."

"You're still second in command." he rolled his eyes, "I'm just a seasoned field leader, so I get to give tactical orders."

Kylee looked up at them as Arsenal stood up, "So... can I go?"

"Yes." Raven looked down at her with a serious expression, "Right to your room to change, then to the gym. You can condition until Nightwing gets there to start your combat training."

"Okay..." Kylee looked put out, "Hey, when Bart gets home-"

"He's training with Kori." Raven cut her off. Kylee sighed and nodded. "Get going." Raven shooed her along, and Kylee walked off to the elevator.

Once she was gone, Raven sagged against her boyfriend, "I hate being mean to her."

"You're raising her, Rae. You'll have to do it sometimes."

"You weren't being much of a help."

"I was just doing what Ollie would have done with me."

"Because Green Arrow is _such _a good role model."

"Better than your Dad."

"Don't go there, Speedy, or you're not getting laid for a week."

"A week?" he snorted, "I'd like to see _you_ go that long."  
"Maybe I will, since you wanted to see Jenny stripping."  
His mouth dropped open and he stared at her. She grinned and closed his jaw, "If you're going to hit on my friends, Dear, hit on ones I don't have an empathic connection with."

* * *

Sarah looked up from her books as the door to her room slid open and a rather glum looking Blackfire floated in. She arched an eyebrow as the five month pregnant alien girl flew to the bed and sat down on it.

"Can I help you?" the blonde asked.

"I'm bored."

"Hmm." Sarah sat back and stretched, "Social Work degrees aren't exactly easy to get, Komi. I need to study."

"I know. Just though you might have some ideas for what I could do."

"Go see Dick. I'm sure he has some kind of research for you."

"I don't feel like working."

"Go into town and eat half a buffet again. That was kind of funny last time you did it."

"Not hungry."

"You could always go talk to Brian... about visitation and stuff like that."

"Too much drama."

Sarah sighed, "I don't know what to tell you, Komi. Have you seen Tara?"

"She just went to see what Dick has for us tonight." the black haired Tamaranian shrugged, "I'm being a pest. I'll leave you alone."

Sarah's eyes softened a bit and she shoved her books aside, "I have a little time. Why don't we go down to the kitchen and start dinner."

"As long as my sister doesn't come by and want to help..." Blackfire shook her head, "I love her, but she can't cook."

Sarah giggled as she stood up, "I hear that. Poor Dick... if they ever go off on their own, he's doomed."

* * *

Kylee hit the punching bag extra hard, sweat flying from her brow. She snarled as she slammed her fist home again, going into a rapid series of punches and kicks.

"Stupid... I was just... helping..." she grunted as she spun around and lashed out with a roundhouse kick, "What's the point... in learning... if I can't... use my skill!"

With a final shout and outpouring of energy, Kylee kicked the punching bag clean off the chain that held it to the ceiling of the training room, and stood there panting. Her eyes went wide when she realized what she'd done, and she took a step back, "Crap."

Turning away, she started forward and ran face first into someone's chest. She stumbled back and fell to the ground with a light cry of shock. Looking up, she saw the dark form of Nightwing looming over her.

"Uh... hiya Dick."

"Raven told me about your little fiasco at school today." Nightwing didn't look happy. In fact, he looked down right frightening. "Get up."  
Kylee scrambled to her feet and stood at attention in front of him. While he was still decked out in his costume, Kylee was wearing workout clothes. Spandex biking shorts, a black sports bra, and a loose fitting white tank top. Her feet were clad in cross trainers, and she wore wristbands that were weighted slightly. Her hands were wrapped in tape, which was torn and slightly bloody from her abuse of the punching bag.

Nightwing studied her for a moment, then started to circle her slowly, "You seem to have some anger issues to work out, Kylee. Raven told me you hardly ever grew angry at anything, and from what I've seen, you're a very mild mannered girl." He stopped in front of her and peeled off his eye mask so he was just Dick Grayson, looking down at her with friendly blue eyes, "So what gives?"

"Huh?" she blinked.

"I'm not going to smack you around for doing what you were trained to do... but I do want to know why you're having such a hard time controlling your anger."

"Um... a while ago Raven took a trip through my head... she found some latent rage and anger directed towards the Doppelganger... the guy that attacked the city with zombies and got my parents killed." Kylee paused and looked down, getting the sudden lump in her throat out of the way before she looked back up and continued, "I... if I ever see that bastard... I don't know what I'll do to keep myself from killing him."

"When Batman helped me find the people responsible for the deaths of my parents, I felt the same way... but the training he put me through let me see that taking a life... even a guilty one... is wrong." Dick stepped back, and smiled, "You're learning the same thing... and I know you can control yourself better than this."

"I don't know what's gotten into me lately." Kylee sighed and slumped a little, "School is going okay, I guess. I met a new friend today, and I'm doing good in all of my classes... it just seems so mundane."

"It is. You should relish it." Dick walked over to a set of parallel bars and jumped up on them. Swinging into a handstand, he held it and continued to speak as if he weren't straining at all, "In this life you have long stretches of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror and deadly combat. It's stressful, and there's been a lot of heroes that have dropped out of the biz because they couldn't handle it." Kylee watched him as he swung down and executed a perfect flip off and landed perfectly, "You should enjoy the time you have to be normal, if you really want to be a Titan."

"I do." Kylee walked over, and jumped up on the bars next. She swung up into a handstand as well, and held it. Dick nodded, and inspected her form,

"Arch your back a bit more so you can balance better. There you go."

As Kylee's face started to turn red, Dick walked around the bars, "I think I have just the thing to help you work past this little rough patch. I'm following some rather boring leads out in the city for the next few nights, and since you've been suspended from school, you might as well get some field experience."

Kylee's arms buckled and she fell off the bars. Gaping up at him from the floor, she gasped out, "Are you serious? You want to take me on patrol with you?"

"Better me than Raven. She'd baby you too much." Dick shook his head, "Don't get me wrong... there wont be any fighting for you. If something comes up, you let me handle it. But your detective skills and investigation ability need work, and the best place for that is in the field."

"But... is my costume done?" Kylee stood up and grinned.

"Cy just finished it last week." Dick grinned, "Come on... I'll show you."

* * *

Terra crept into the bedroom of a swanky penthouse apartment in uptown Jump City on the East Side. She grinned in a feral manner as she moved silently past the drawn curtains and up to the still form that was snoring lightly on the bed. With a shout, she pounced.

A cry of alarm rose from the blonde man in the bed as she tackled him off the opposite side and to the ground. He struggled with her for a moment before she managed to get his face turned around and locked her lips on his. Instantly he stopped fighting, and after a few seconds of her tongue working against the inside of his mouth, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her down to the floor with him.

"Hey handsome..." she muttered as he tugged her black t-shirt up over her head, "how was your night last night?"

"Less talking, more making out." Brian replied as he pressed his mouth to hers once again, and started yanking on her shorts.

Terra giggled.

* * *

An hour later, the blonde girl lay in bed next to her boyfriend, staring up at the skylights above them. The sky was clear and blue, and fluffy clouds floated past in a lazy manner.

"So what's on the plate for the bad ass Miss Terra the Titan tonight?" Brian asked.

"Patrol while everyone else is on a dock raid. We have good intel on Intergang for once, but someone needs to keep track of things in the rest of the city." She rolled over and pressed her naked body against his, "You didn't answer my question earlier... what were you up to last night, and why weren't you answering my calls?"

"I was busy." Brian kissed her neck, "God, you're hot..."

"Don't change the subject." Terra grinned and pushed him back, rolling up on top of him and leaning on his bare chest, "What was the fearsome Red-X up to last night?"

He sighed, "I had a big score." At her arched eyebrow, he sighed, "Not in Jump. I hit L.A. last night."

"What'd you boost?"

"Lexcorp's L.A. branch had some experimental anti-grav equipment. Anti-proton based power core with dual XRP magni-tech. Very cool stuff."

"You stole Lex Luthor's latest toy?"

"Naw. It actually has potential to be used for some good, so I boosted every single hard-copy file they had on it. No copy-rights have been issued on the tech yet, so I dropped them off at STAR Labs L.A. and called it a night."

Terra flopped back down and sighed, "I'm dating Robin Hood."

"Heh. I guess." Brian stretched and winced a little, "Did you have to claw my back up like that?"

"Did you have to fuck me so goddamn hard? You know I dig in when you do that." She grinned, "Not that I don't like it..."

"You're terrible." Brian hugged her, "I love you."

"I love you too." Terra snuggled into his chest, and let him hold her until she had to get up to go out on patrol.

* * *

Meanwhile, back at the Tower, Raven stepped into Cyborg's lab and called out, "Victor? Kori broke the holo-room in that simulated fight with Cinderblock again. I was going to use it for training Bart how to-" she stopped when she walked around the corner and in to the section of the lab devoted to Cyborg's R&D.

Cyborg stood to one side, a proud smile on his face, and Nightwing knelt down on the ground, adjusting something with his back to Raven. She arched an eyebrow, "Dick, what are you doing to my foster child?"

Nightwing stood up and stepped to the side, grinning down at the thirteen year old girl in front of them. Kylee had her arms out to the side, and was grinning ear to ear as she inspected her outfit.

Her top was a white tunic with loose sleeves, cut low in the front and revealing the black shirt underneath. In the middle of her chest was a stylized picture of an angel wielding a flaming sword, done in colors of blue and gold. A blue skirt fell to her ankles, with wide slits up both sides to allow her legs to move about. She was wearing loose white pants, and her feet were clad in blue combat-style boots, which the pants tucked into.

She had pulled her shoulder-length hair up into a ponytail, and she wore fingerless blue gloves over her hands, with gleaming golden half-orbs set into them, much like the red ones on the backs of Raven's gloves. A belt around her waist sported a sheath on one side that contained a short dagger.

Kylee looked up at her foster parent with a wide grin, "How do I look?"

"Angelic." Raven smiled at her, then her mirth was gone, "Now take it off. I told you you're not suppose to wear that until you turn fourteen, _at the earliest._" Turning on Nightwing and Cyborg she scowled, "And I can't believe the two of you encouraged this."

Nightwing held up a hand, "I'm taking her out with me tonight."

Raven's mouth dropped open, then she took a step forward and raised a shaking finger in his face, "You promised... you told me when we re-formed the team that you would never supercede my parenting with an order to do something with my child. Dick... you utter, lying bastard. I will _not_ let you bring her out tonight, or any other night until _I_ say it's okay."

"Raven, listen to me-"

"No!" she shouted, and some of the computer equipment in the room exploded into showers of sparks.

"Aw, come on!" Cyborg rushed over to the broken machine and poked at it, causing it to admit more sparks and a bit of flame, "That's not cool!"

"She'll be perfectly okay, Raven." Nightwing stepped forward and stood close to the psion, "She'll be with _me_."  
"Dick..." Raven's tone was low and warning, "I may trust you above almost anyone else on this planet, but that does not mean I will let you take the life of my daughter in your hands-"

"Let her go."

All eyes swung around to the doorway, where Arsenal leaned, picking at his finger nails. Raven's mouth dropped open, _"What?"_

"Dick's right... he'd never let anything happen to her." Arsenal walked into the room and stood next to his girlfriend, "She knows to run if they encounter anything she can't handle, and Raven, she can fucking _fly_." He shook his head, "She'll be fine... it's not like Dick's going to drop her into any hot zones." his eyes flashed up and met Nightwing's, "Right?"

"We're just going to investigate a few minor leads I have on some weird stuff that's been going down. I know she's not an expert, but I need someone with a back ground in magic to help me."

"Why not me then?" Raven scowled at him.

"Because I need you down at the docks tonight, taking out Intergang. Roy and Jenny are going to be downtown, and that leaves just me and the kids. I want Bart staying in tonight though. He looked pretty wasted when he got back form Keystone last night."

Raven looked around at everyone, then sighed and threw up her hands, "Just so you all know, my decisions where Kylee is concerned are final, and none of you have any right to say other wise. But I'll let her go tonight."

Kylee's face split into a grin and she rushed forward, throwing her arms around Raven, who's face softened. She hugged her foster child back and smile when she heard the girl mutter, "Thank you, Raven. For trusting me."

Raven pulled away and held the younger girl at arms length, "I do trust you Kylee... I trust you to do what's right when ever you're wearing that costume, and I trust you to always do what Nightwing tells you to do. I also trust that you'll make the Titans proud."

"Definitely." Kylee nodded and swiped at some tears.

"You ready to train a little to get a feel for that equip?" Nightwing asked.

"You got it!" Kylee ran for the doors.

Raven grabbed Nightwing's arm as he walked past her, "Dick..." she whispered, "be careful tonight. Don't do anything reckless, don't leaver her alone for a second, and never let her out of your sight." Her bottom lip quivered, "If anything happened to her... if she got hurt, or-"

"Raven," Nightwing turned her face to his and their eyes met. His were hard and honest, and hers were wet and vulnerable, "I'd die first."

Raven hugged him suddenly, and Arsenal walked over and clomped him on the shoulder. After a moment, the red haired archer pulled his girlfriend away, "Come on... let him work with her a bit before they go out."

"Hey!" Kylee called from the doorway as she came back in the room, "Are you coming?"

"I'll be right there, Seraph." Nightwing nodded.

Kylee's eyes grew wide, her mouth opened a little, and she stared. After a moment, she mouthed her new name, then her face split into a grin and she dashed off for the gym.

* * *

Closing Notes: The stage is set for the next three chapters. Jinx and Arsenal are first, then Nightwing and Seraph, then the dock raid. Nothing else to say here really than review, review, review. Just because I posted two chapters doesn't mean you get out of doing a nice long review for this one. 


	3. Lilith

Jump City Symphony

A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonald

Opening Notes: Chapter the next. Bet you can't guess what this one's about by the name of the chapter! No really, it's going to shock. you. I know this is rated M, but if you have an exceptionally weak stomach, you may wish to avoid this chapter. Lots of blood and cruelty. Fair warning.

Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Teen Titans.

* * *

_**Lilith**_

Jinx stepped out of the elevator and into the living room of Titans Tower, checking in her purse for her ID. As she looked up, she stopped and arched an eyebrow. "What?"

Changeling, Cyborg, Sarah and Blackfire were all seated around the living room eating their dinner, and they were all staring at her with their mouths hanging open.

Changeling was the first to find his voice, "Your... your hair..." he choked out.

"By X'hal's great name and grace, what are you wearing?" Blackfire's mouth started to turn up into a grin.

Jinx blinked at them, then shrugged. Her hair was falling down straight, done in numerous tight braids that looked like dreadlocks, and it had been dyed a dirty blonde color with several pink streaks. She wore knee high fuck-me boots with fishnet stockings, and an extremely short black leather miniskirt. Her stomach was bare, and her loose black tank top showed off about half of her lacy red bra underneath. A spiked collar adorned her neck, an a matching bracelet was strapped around her right wrist. She wore dark shades of red and black makeup around her eyes, and ruby red lipstick shined on her mouth.

"I'm going undercover as a stripper. Thought I might as well look the part."

"Why do you even own clothes like that?" Sarah asked.

"I don't." Jinx pointed, "The underwear and the top are mine, but I had to shred the shirt to make it look right. The boots are actually Raven's, and the skirt, believe it or not, is Kylee's."

"Kylee owns a leather skirt?" Cyborg asked.

"She and Raven went shopping a month or so ago and bought all kinds of strange clothes. I think it was just because they had Dick's credit card."

Arsenal walked into the room from the garage elevator and spotted the crowd on the couches, "Hey guys. Has Jinx come down yet?" They all pointed and he looked over.

The red haired sharp shooter laughed a little, "Dick wanted you to look like a stripper, Jen. Not a hooker."

"There's a difference in the way they dress?" Jinx arched an eyebrow.

"Point." Arsenal shrugged, "I've got the car running. Let's go."

"Man!" Cyborg cackled, "Are you takin' that old beater again?"

The red haired man shook his head, "The Achiva doesn't have the power the T-Car does, Vic, but it's a little less conspicuous than a big blue and silver monster with anti-proton cannons sticking out the top of it."

Sarah chuckled, but stopped when Cyborg shot her a look. Blackfire snorted, "Ah ah, Sarah... don't laugh at Vic's 'baby'."

"Don't make fun of my car, Blackfire."

"It's a freakin' _car_, Cy." Blackfire rolled her eyes, "Get over it."

"It's not just a car! It's-"

What it was, Arsenal and Jinx were spared from having to find out. They had made it to the elevator and the doors shut just as Cyborg started to rant.

* * *

"So you think you'll really dance tonight?" Arsenal drove through the light traffic on the west end of the city with ease.

"Don't sound so excited. Raven would hack off your balls if she knew you were panting like a dog to see me taking my clothes off." Jinx rolled her eyes.

"Oh, she already knows. It's not like she has much room to talk. She's had sex with you."

"Before you two got together, I'll point out." Jinx shook her head with a grin, "Sorry, Jason, but there's no good reason for you to be in that club when I'm up on stage."

"Sure there is! What if something goes down and you need my help?"

"I can kick around a few drunk idiots who try to touch me while I'm dancing."

"Still..." Arsenal lapsed into silence, and after a moment or two, spoke again in a softer voice, "Are you sure you're okay with this?"

"I can be a stripper for one night, Jay."

"Not that... the being bait part. I mean, I'll cap any fuck that puts a hand on you, but it's gonna be dangerous-"

"Like dodging bullets and fighting super villains and armies of zombies isn't dangerous."

"This is different, Jenny." Arsenal shook his head, "This guy... or guys... how ever many there are, they're good. They know just how to hurt people, and they know just where to do it so that no one will see or hear."

As they rolled up to a red light and stopped, Jinx turned to the man in the driver's seat, "I appreciate that you're worried for me, Jason. I really do." Leaning in, she kissed his right cheek and placed a hand on the left side of his face, turning his eyes to meet hers, "I'll be fine."

"Just don't take any chances." Arsenal leaned in a little and kissed her cheek as well. Blue eyes met pink, and they stared at each other, their faces only inches apart. After a moment, Jinx blinked.

"Light's green."

Arsenal turned his face away and continued driving. Jinx turned and looked out her window.

The rest of the trip to the club was made in silence.

* * *

Jinx stepped through the doors at the back of the High Times Gentlemen's Club and looked around for a manager of some sort. Spotting a portly man in his mid-forties, she walked over and grinned at him, "Hey."

"Hey there. You the new girl?"

"Yep." she tossed her braids over one shoulder.

"Alright. Now I'm not interviewing you or watching you dance first because Frank spoke so highly of you. Don't let me down." he glared for a second, then pointed down a hallway off to the side, "Dressing room is down there. You're on at 10:15."

"Alright. You wont be disappointed, Mr. Hathorn."

He nodded curtly and rushed off to do something or another. Jinx watched him go, then started for the dressing room. The plan was fairly simple; Nightwing had called and pretended to be one of Mr. Hathorn's associates from a strip club down in L.A., saying that he'd heard that High Times was down a few girls because of the recent attacks. Telling him that he had a good girl in town and that he'd give her a call, Nightwing set up for Jinx to start work immediately.

All she had to do now was catch the eye of the attacker or attackers and draw them out so Arsenal could put the hurt on them. They'd carefully done her up to match the common description of the other four girls, so she would stand out more, and she was suppose to act as wild as she could, trying to draw as much attention as possible.

"Jason's going to be sorry he missed this one..." Jinx grinned as she stepped into the dressing room and looked about. Only one other girl was there at the moment, and she was leaning into a mirror, checking her makeup. "Hey." the girl called.

"Hi." Jinx walked in and dropped a duffle on one of the chairs in front of a mirror, "I'm Jenny."

The other young woman stood up and turned to the Titan. She was slightly tall, maybe five foot nine inches, and she had long red hair that spilled all the way down her back. She was wearing a see-through teddy and a barely there black bra along with her skimpy looking thong. Her feet were bare, but she had four inch heels sitting next to her chair. Smiling down at the three inches shorter Jinx, she stuck out a hand, "Lilith."

"Stage name?" Jinx arched an eyebrow as she shook the girls hand.

"Nope. That's my real name." Lilith looked into Jinx's pink eyes and her smile faltered, "You have some wild eyes."

Jinx blinked her catlike eyes and grinned, "Yeah. It's only a minor metahuman trait. Guys dig it though, so tips galore, huh?"

"I guess. Mostly I just have to get by on my dancing." Lilith's smile came back in full force and she nodded to the door, "I'm on in five if you want to watch."

Jinx smiled and nodded, thinking that the routine she'd worked up could use some modification by watching a _real_ stripper do her thing. "Sure. I'm a little rusty."

"Haven't danced in a while?"

"Not for a while, no."

"Well, you picked a good night then. I'm going to throw down some _great_ moves."

"Awesome." Jinx bobbed her head and followed the tall red head out into the club.

* * *

Arsenal yawned as he stared down at the men walking in and out of High Times, and scratched at the light stubble on his chin. He was positioned on top of the building across the street, a hardware store that sold high end power tools. Checking his equipment once more, he found it all to be in perfect working order.

Not that he had expected anything to change about it in the past five minutes, but that was beside the point.

Just as he was about to give up and start prank calling Nightwing on his T-Comp, the communication device buzzed at him. Flipping it open, he saw a text message from Jinx.

_I'm on at 10:15 and 11:30. Will be leaving at 12:00. Be ready._

Arsenal glanced at the time on his T-Comp. It was only 9:50.

He groaned and settled in for a long wait.

* * *

Jinx spun about the pole with just her legs wrapped around it, then leaned upside down towards the herd of men crowding around the stage. She winked as her hands flashed behind her back and her skimpy bra fell to the floor.

The crowd howled with appreciation.

The best thing about working a strip club in Jump was that there was a strict six foot policy, and no establishment that served alcohol (as this one did) could be fully nude. She was required to leave her panties on at all times, even though they were practically transparent anyway, and so skimpy you could see her entire, well formed ass.

As she dropped from the pole and began to crawl forward on the stage to the give the men in the front row a better view of her breasts, she grinned and scanned the crowd in the club as a whole. Towards the back there was a booth with four men in it that struck her as suspicious right away. Maybe it was the way they were sitting and talking while shooting occasional glances at the stage, or maybe it was the way they were all dressed in dark suits, but Jinx didn't trust a single one of them.

Making a mental note to keep an eye on them, the blonde and pink haired girl rolled on to her back and thrust her hips into the air, moaning as she did.

More cheers met her ears and she grinned wider.

* * *

"That was great!" Lilith gushed at her as Jinx stepped back into the dressing room, "Even with the smaller rack you have, you still had those guys hard and begging for more! Where'd you learn to dance like that?"

"Here and there... a lot of it is actually a form of Karate if you can believe that."

"Really? Get out!" Lilith laughed nervously and looked away suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Jinx stepped forward and arched an eyebrow, "Lilith? You okay?"

"It's just... it's nothing." The redhead smiled and looked back at her, "Don't worry. Oh, and steer clear of the taller bouncer who sticks close to the stage."

"Hank?" Jinx grinned, "He was sure to show me his name tag while he stared at my boobs."

"Yeah, he's a real charmer." Lilith giggled, "I took him home and fucked his brains out all night last week. He's got stamina, but that's about it."

"Heh." Jinx shook her head, "Under seven inches and I just laugh and put it away."

"That's what I'm talkin' about!" Lilith and Jinx both burst out laughing.

* * *

Arsenal sat with his back propped against the AC unit on top of the building he was posted on. He punched a number into his T-Comp and waited for only a few seconds before it picked up.

_"Nightwing here. What's up Arsenal?"_

"Do you ever wonder what it would be like to swim in a giant vat of pudding?"

_"What do you think fighting Plasmus is like?" _Arsenal grinned as he heard Kylee giggling in the background, _"Now stop prank calling me or I'll have the Operator cut off your network access." _

The red haired archer rolled his eyes, "Fine. Have her load Tetris on to my T-Comp then."

Nightwing frowned at him through the video connection, _"Just keep an eye out for any suspects, Roy. Nightwing out." _

Arsenal rolled his eyes and flipped his communicator shut.

* * *

The four suits continued to keep an eye on Jinx the rest of the night, and paid extra close attention while she danced the second time. Their observation didn't go un-noticed however, and Jinx flirted with some of the men around them, letting them get a good look at her as she walked past their booth several times.

The first rule of being bait was to make yourself as appealing as possible. She was just giving them incentive.

As midnight crept closer, Jinx dressed in her skirt and torn top again, and pulled her boots back on, rather than the six inch platform heals she'd been wearing. She was sipping on a gin and tonic the bartender had given her without carding her, and humming a tuneless song as she dressed, and so failed to notice when Lilith appeared in the mirror in front of her.

"Whoa!" Jinx jumped a little, "Don't freak a girl out like that, Lilith!"

The red haired young woman had changed into jeans and a pale green tunic top with a plunging neck line. She wore cross trainers and carried a purse over her shoulder, "Hey... Jenny?"

"Yeah?" Jinx turned and smiled at her, "What is it?"

"Don't... let them follow you. They'll... you're going to get hurt."

"Lilith?" Jinx narrowed her eyes, "What do you know that I need to?"

"I'm not with them, if that's what you're asking... but I know you're Jinx... I know you're a Titan."

"Fine." Jinx stood up straight, "What the hell are you talking about then?"

"I..." Lilith looked away, "I have powers... I can see the future sometimes, and I can read minds others... it comes and goes."

"So... you've had a vision?"

"Yes." Lilith looked back at her, "I've had several with you in them, actually."

"What about?"

"I..." Lilith looked back at her, "Jenny... those men are going to hurt you... so badly... don't put yourself in that position, please..." she was almost begging, "I saw the other girls go too, but I couldn't tell them... they would have hated me for being a meta... but you understand, don't you?"

"Of course I do." Jinx smiled kindly and put a hand on her shoulder, "I'm a meta too, Lilith. But you have to know that visions aren't always a hundred percent accurate. Time is fluid, and the future can be changed." Lilith still looked unsure, so Jinx continued, "You've warned me about them, so I can be extra careful now. I know an attack is coming, so I'll be able to fight it off more effectively, you see?"

"You're not listening, Jenny-"

"Lilith." Jinx cut her off, "I'll be fine. I have backup and everything."

"But-"

"I'll stop by and see you again soon, okay? Be safe on the way home."

Jinx grabbed her bag and walked out of the changing room with a smile and a wave.

Lilith looked up into the mirror and frowned at her own reflection, "But... in my vision... I've already talked to you..."

* * *

Arsenal saw Jinx come out of the club at exactly 12:12 and start walking east towards the low rent section of the city. He grabbed the sniper rifle he had with him, and took off along the roof tops, stalking her progress down the street.

After almost a half hour of running and jumping, he found a good vantage that covered almost four city blocks within the sight of his scope. Setting up on the top of an eight story building, he sighted his pink and blonde haired partner and started following her progress from a more narrow view.

As he watched her scratch at her nose, then adjust her lacy bra, he wondered at what had passed between them in the car. The cheek kissing was nothing new. Jinx was an affectionate person by nature, and kissed everyone's cheek every now and then. What had really thrown him was the quite soft way she did it, and his return of the gesture.

He loved Raven with all his heart, and their foster child meant the world to him. Still though, he couldn't deny that Jenny was more the kind of girl he usually went for. Free wheeling, fun, cheerful and light hearted. Someone looking for a few good romps in the bed and then nothing but friendship and the occasional lonely-at-home-on-a-Friday-night fuck.

Arsenal sighed in a frustrated manner. This was the first time he'd been challenged with a temptation of this nature since he'd started dating Raven and they'd become exclusive. His resolve to over come it strengthened, and he vowed to not let any more incidents like the one during the car ride happen again.

As he reached his decision, a flash blocked his sight for just a half second, and then Jinx was gone.

"What the hell?" he breathed, and pulled the scope back out a little. He scanned up and down the street for a few seconds, then back to where he'd lost her. A lamp post partially obstructed a dark ally there, and he growled low in his throat.

"No... Jinx..."

Arsenal pulled out a grappler and fired it into the roof at his feet. Leaving the gun set up where it was, he jumped off the building.

* * *

The attack came so fast and hard, Jinx didn't even know what was going on until she was laying on the ground, moaning and trying to regain her strength.

There had been a blinding flash of light, most likely from a flash grenade, and then she'd been pulled bodily from her feet and slammed into the wall of the ally she was walking past. Her head had taken most of the blow, and now she was dizzy, weak and seeing stars.

Voices pierced her veil of confusion, "Hit her again, then get her in the trunk." said a first man.

"Careful with her, though. She looked like she might know some kind of kung-fu or something the way she was dancing." advised a second.

"I've got the zip ties right here." a third claimed.

Regaining some of her spatial sense at that moment, Jinx lashed out with a heavy boot at the first body she could find. A solid connection later, a man with a suit was grunting and staggering away from her. With a grin, she jumped to her feet.

Something slammed across the back of her skull, and the Titan crumpled to the ground. Behind her stood a suit wearing man with a steel pipe, grinning like a kid in a candy store. "Ha! Got this bitch."

"Well why don't you try this then, 'bitch'." Lilith dashed into the ally and jabbed a tazer into the man's back, sending him into convulsions. Pulling it away from him, she brandished it at the two standing men, and the one clutching his middle. The largest of them stomped forward and she attempted to jab him with the tazer as well.

The thug grabbed her arm and thrust the small device away from himself. A single punch to the face was all it took, and then he had her slung over his shoulder, out cold.

"We'll take this one too."  
"The boss doesn't like red-heads." replied his other standing companion.

"If he doesn't want her, we can always kill her." the larger man shook his head, "Get John and let's go."

A chunk of brick exploded out of the wall next to the man carrying Lilith and he ducked out of the way, "That was a bullet!" he shouted, "Leave John and get to the car!"

One of the other two men scooped up Jinx and they all ran to a sedan in the back of the ally. Jumping in, they peeled out and took off out the other side of the block.

As Arsenal came pelting into the ally, he took two more shots at the fleeing car, but it was veering so hard they did little more than put dents in the back of it.

Watching the unmarked, unlicensed car take off, he growled and spun around.

A man in a suit going by the name of John lay on the ground before him, stuttering and trying to re-gain his senses.

Arsenal pulled a tazer arrow out of the small quiver he had slung across his lower back, and started advancing on the rather unfortunate John.

* * *

Sitting on top of a warehouse across town sipping a warm mug of soup, Raven blinked and looked up to the south-east. Squinting, she wondered why her connection to Jinx had just failed.

"Must have gotten knocked out or something." she muttered. The other girl's consciousness was still there, but there was no empathic link. Arsenal was with her though, so Raven wasn't too concerned.

Looking back out over the docks of Pier 14, Raven sighed and took another sip of her soup.

* * *

John woke up slowly. Shaking his head, he tried to place exactly what had happened that had given him such a headache.

Peeling open his eyes, it only took him a moment to realize his hands were bound behind his back, and he was dangling upside down from a flagpole fifty stories off the ground on the top of a sky scraper.

John screamed.

"Shut up." a rough voice ordered, and he was struck across the face. Stopping his screaming, he whimpered and looked to see who had hit him.

A line extended from the pole just behind him, and ended in a loop, that a young man wearing an all red combat suit with a golden arrow design on the chest had a foot stuck through. The ruby lenses of his sunglasses glinted in a sinister manner as he held on to the line with one hand, and balled his other into a fist, ready to strike again, "My name is Arsenal," the young man said, "and you have five seconds to tell me where your friends took those girls."

"I... get me down from here!"

"If you want." Arsenal pulled out a sharp pocket knife and placed it against the rope that was tied around John's feet.

"No! Don't!"

"You want down or not?" Arsenal arched an eyebrow over his ruby red shades and pulled the knife back.

"Please! What do you want to know?"

"Who you work for, where the two girls were taken, and what they were taken for."

"I can't tell you that!" John was crying, "He'll kill me."

"I'll kill you if you don't start talking." Arsenal put the knife back to the rope and sliced it a little, severing a few threads. John screamed again as the rope gave a little.

"Alright! We work for Patrick Gronds! He... he likes his girls young and blonde! We just kidnap 'em and take 'em to his estate! What he does with 'em after that is all him!"

"And what does he do with them?"

"He's sick, man!" John looked slightly white, "He beats the girls up, rapes 'em... and kills 'em." He looked away, "He just... we get paid good, and they're just scummy strippers and hookers... right?"

Arsenal glared for a second, then climbed his rope back up to the pole. He walked along it with perfect balance, then out onto the building top.

"Hey!" John called, "Get me down, man! I told you what you wanted to know!"

He listened for a second, but didn't hear any sound of footfalls, and Arsenal wasn't saying anything.

"Oh..." John looked down at the city street below, "Oh God..."

* * *

Jinx was jostled awake as she was dropped to a cold concrete floor. Moaning, she slowly opened her eyes and waited for her fuzzy vision to clear.

She was laying in a ten foot by ten foot room with no windows and only one door. The walls were cinderblock, and one of them was covered with a variety of sharp instruments, torture devices, and several large, painful looking sex toys.

"Fuck." she muttered, and swung her gaze over to the wall across from her. Lilith was there, still unconscious, but chained up and hanging limply from her manacles. "Double fuck."

The door opened suddenly without a sound, and a man walked in wearing a closed robe with a white shirt underneath and house slippers. He looked to be in his mid to late forties, and swaggered with an air of being in total control. His face was vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn't place it right away.

When he saw Jinx, he grinned, "Oh my... pink streaks in the hair. Sexy." He turned and regarded Lilith with a thoughtful gaze, "Red hair, but still a good body. I'll play with her too."

"You're not playing with anyone, you sick fuck." Jinx stood up and tried to step forward.

It was only then that she noticed that she was manacled as well, behind her back.

The man quickly pulled a remote from his pocket and pushed a button on it. A chain attached to Jinx's cuffs retracted up into the ceiling, pulling her arms up behind her head, and suspending her off the ground. She winced in pain as her shoulders were wrenched.

"Now, now..." the man stepped forward and smiled a friendly smile that made Jinx want to punch his teeth out, "We must not interrupt Pat's play time."

Jinx spit at him.

Dodging most of the spittle, Pat grinned even wider. "I see you have a lot of spirit. We'll just have to break that, wont we?" Walking to the wall, he pulled down a wicked looking cat-o-nine tails. "Ready?"

* * *

As Arsenal rappelled down the side of a building to get to his car, he opened a com link on his hands free device, "Hey, Blackfire. You busy?"

_"No, I'm open at the moment. Operator is handling the dock raid just fine." _

"Good. I need you to run down some info for me."

_"Alright. Go ahead."_

"I need to know every piece of real-estate owned by a man named Patrick Gronds."

_"The industrialist?" _

"Yeah, the one that Raven's former lawyer employer got off of a murder charge last October."

_"Yowch. This guy owns some property, Arsenal. I'm showing seventy-six hits." _

"Damn. Narrow those down to the best places to take kidnap victims."

_"Excuse me?" _Blackfire sounded slightly angry, _"Roy, what's this all about?"_

As he landed on the ground next to his car and tugged his line down, Arsenal sighed. He spoke quietly as her replied, "Jinx was abducted."

_"WHAT?" _he winced as Blackfire's voice raged through his ear bud, _"Jenny was taken? And you're just calmly tracking down leads?"_

"Would you rather I freak out and run all over the city looking in random places?"

_"Fuck you, Roy! I'm calling Nightwing in, and we're going to find this fucker and-"_

"We don't need Nightwing." Arsenal sounded firm, "I can handle this."

_"This isn't just another kidnap victim, Roy, it's Jenny for crying out loud!"_

"And she can take a lot more abuse than most normal girls." he shouted back, "Just give me the damn locations, Blackfire, or get off the com and put Sarah on!"

Blackfire grumbled over the com link for a moment, then spoke again, _"Alright, as a former bad guy I can tell you the two most likely locations for a torture/rape/murder are going to be his penthouse up north of downtown, or the basement of an old apartment building he owns over in the east end projects." _

"Just one building?" Arsenal asked as he climbed into the car and started it.

_"Yeah. It kind of red flagged to me too." _

"I'll head to that one first. Keep on this guy though, Komi. I want to know every thing about him I can."

As he peeled out of the ally his car was parked in, Blackfire responded with a grim tone, _"Oh, I'll dig up every bit of dirt on him that exists. This bastard is going down _tonight_." _

* * *

Jinx winced as the nine headed whip cracked across her back again. Her shirt was in tatters, hanging off her shoulders but otherwise just a scrap of cloth that didn't even cover her any more. Every time the whip hit, she could hear the wet smacking sound, and see her blood splatter the ground a little.

"You're just not a screamer, are you?" Pat walked around in front of her and scratched his chin as she gave him a defiant look. "Are you a submissive hooker in your spare time? You have quite a few scars."

"Zombie attack." Jinx growled at him, "Some of us fought in that bloodbath."

"Oh yeah!" Pat's eyes lit up, "I killed my wife and sawed up her body during that little shindig."

"You're a real monster, you know that?" Lilith spoke weakly from across the room. Jinx's eyes snapped over to her, and saw that the red head was on her feet, if not still chained to the wall.

Pat stepped away from Jinx, walked over to Lilith and backhanded her so hard she fell back down. "Please don't speak again until I'm ready for you." She moaned and spit a little blood on the ground.

Jinx pulled at her chains as she tried to get her toes on the floor, but it was no use. Pat walked back over, and tossed the cat-o-nine whip aside. "I guess I'll have to try something else if I want to get a good scream out of you."

"Bring it on." Jinx grinned at him and winked.

Pat smiled wide and walked over to his wall of death. Picking through the selection, he finally settled on a pair of heavy pliers. Walking back over to Jinx, he smiled kindly. "Open wide!" His hand shot out and grabbed her face, squeezing her jaw until her mouth opened a little. He stuck the pliers in and grabbed on to the bar bell through her tongue. "Scream for me?"

"Huc hou." Jinx replied, her tongue pulled halfway out of her mouth.

Pat yanked the pliers back.

* * *

Arsenal crept along the side of the dingy apartment building with one of his 9mm guns drawn. He'd loaded it with special bullets that cauterized as soon as they entered the body so the victim wouldn't bleed out. They were potentially lethal, but he was pretty confident in his aim.

As he reached a door that led down into the sublevel of the apartment, he crouched and listened. There were voices from inside, so he placed a listening device on the door and stuck the ear piece for it in the ear that didn't have his link to Blackfire in it.

_"... and she's ready." _said the first voice.

_"Sweet. Gronds is gonna be happy with this one." _

_"Yeah, just to his tastes." _

Arsenal had heard enough. Pocketing the listening device, he didn't waste any time standing up and kicking the door in. Diving inside, he ducked, rolled, and came up with his gun aimed at the first person he saw.

The sight that met his eyes was two men standing in front of a table laid out with two huge bags of weed. Several grow lamps and almost a hundred plants were all around the basement level, and the two men were wide eyed with shock.

Quickly tucking away his gun, Arsenal pulled out a hand crossbow and fired off two bolts in quick succession. Both were tazer charges, and both knocked out their targets in a matter of seconds.

Scowling, he stalked back up to the street level, "Blackfire! The apartment building was a dud. Filled to bursting with Pot though, so call in the narcotics division of the force and have them clean it out."

_"Message sent. Hey, I've got something else for you." _

"Yeah?"

_"Seems Gronds bought a large piece of land out in the desert, and put it in his son's name." _

"Yeah?"

_"Well, there's also work orders for building a dirt bike racing track on that property, which was declared to be it's only purpose. "_

"Is this going somewhere?" he started for his car, parked across the street.

_"Gronds' son is only nine, and he lives with his mother's mother in Seattle. He's never even touched a dirt bike, let alone driven one on a professional level course." _

"Was there any work orders through a contractor for any buildings to be erected?"

_"Just one. And it goes down three levels under ground and is made entirely of stone." _

"Where is it?" Arsenal sounded grim.

_"Due east off of I-56. I'm uploading to your car's GPS right now." _

Arsenal yanked open the door of his car as he reached it and climbed in. Sure enough, there was a map on his GPS unit's screen, and a blinking red dot at the end of it.

Once again, he put the hammer down and was off in a roaring burst of speed.

* * *

Jinx found herself looking down at the ground and staring at a puddle of her own blood dripping from her mouth for the second time in twelve hours. New to this puddle though was her tongue barbell, and two of her back molars. She spit some more blood and looked back up at Pat with blazing pink eyes, "I'm gonna kill you when I get down from here."

"Uh huh." Pat frowned, "Still not screaming. You are one tough little cookie."

"Get..." Lilith stumbled to her feet, "Get away from her..."

"Are you still talking?" Pat walked back over and whipped her over the head with the pliers. She cried out and fell back down, a cut forming on her head and oozing blood. Jinx winced and struggled against her bonds.

Pat tossed aside the pliers and walked back to his wall. He came back to Jinx with a small pocket knife and studied her for a moment. Flicking it out, he frowned deeper as Jinx's head jerked to the side and blood splattered off her cheek, but she still didn't scream.

"What is going to make you... arg!" Pat walked over to Lilith and kicked her in frustration. The red head slammed back against the wall and gasped.

Jinx couldn't help it, "Get the fuck away from her!" she shouted.

Pat froze, then smiled slowly, "Oh. Oh I know." Jinx paled as he knelt down and lifted Lilith's chin up off the ground, "Honey... she can take a beating, she can take pain, and she can take mutilation... but she can't take seeing you get hurt."

Lilith whimpered and Pat dropped her back to the ground. Turning so that he sat on her, he jerked one of her arms up at an odd angle and spread out her fingers.

"Stop it!" Jinx shouted.

Pat placed his small knife at the tip of one of Lilith's fingers and started to slowly dig it in. Lilith started to scream immediately, "No! Please! Stop!" she screamed as he dug in and pried up a little. Grinning at her cries of pain, Pat dug deeper, watching the blood begin to drip. As Lilith continued to scream, Jinx struggled even harder.

"Stop it!" she yelled, but Pat just looked up at her and laughed. He laughed and laughed, and continued to laugh as he gave the knife a twist and a flick, sending Lilith's index finger nail flying across the room. The red head jerked around under him and cried tears of pain.

Pat continued to look at Jinx as he stuck the knife under the middle finger nail of the same hand.

The blonde and pink haired Titan couldn't take it. She had been trying to keep his attention on her, and away from Lilith. She had been trying to last until Arsenal arived and saved them, but now... now she was going to have to let this thing advance to the next level. She squinted her eyes shut and screamed, "Stop it, please!" Screaming like a frightened little girl, she continued to do so until she felt him gripping her face. Opening her eyes and looking at him, she saw his contented expression.

"Good." he said, then pulled his hand back and slammed his fist into her cheek. Jinx was dazed by the blow, and jerked back. Hanging limply from the cuffs, she cried a few tears of pain and frustration.

"And tears too!" Pat seemed quite happy. He pushed a button on his remote and Jinx felt herself lower down enough so that she was sitting on her knees. Pat stepped in front of her, and she looked up at him.

He reached into the pocket of his robe, pulled out a snub nosed .38, and pointed it down at her head. "I'd threaten you with this, but I don't think it would matter." He pointed it over at Lilith and grinned. Opening his robe, he revealed that he was wearing just boxers and the t-shirt under it. Reaching down, he opened the flap on the front of his boxers and took another step towards Jinx.

As her gaze lowered down to eye level, Jinx heard him say, "No teeth. I even feel a light scrape and I put one in the red head."

Closing her eyes, Jinx swallowed hard. "Oh Gar... forgive me..." She leaned forward and opened her mouth. As she went to work, she dug her own thumb nails into her wrists, cutting herself and letting the blood drip down into the space between her manacles and her hands.

* * *

Arsenal crept along the dirt track of a fully built motocross track. Coming to a rise, he peeked over it and saw two guards stationed on either side of a small brick building off to one side. Frowning, he pulled out his crossbow and took aim.

The first guard jerked as a bolt tipped with a heavy steel head slammed into his temple. He fell to the ground out cold, and his SMG wielding counterpart glanced over, "What the hell is th-"

A tazer bolt hit him in the chest and her jerked around for a few seconds before dropping to join his companion.

Arsenal was opening the door before he had fully hit the ground.

Peeking inside, he saw a single hallway leading to a staircase. Not very subtle, but it only allowed for one escape route. Creeping down the stairs, he peered out into the room he came to.

It was a lavishly decorated bedroom, complete with a full sized Jacuzzi off to one side. No guards, but it made Arsenal think that Gronds took more than just his rape victims to this little ranch. He might bring high priced call girls, or even legitimist dates with him.

Walking across the room to another staircase, he pushed open the door and started down. Even as he was though, the door at the bottom opened up and a man walked up, calling back over his shoulder, "You guys start the next hand without me and I'm gonna' be pissed!"

"Just go use the damn bathroom!" a voice from inside called and several men laughed. Arsenal picked out four distinct voices, bringing the thug count to a total of five.

As the man turned to continue walking up the stairs, the red clad archer leapt down at him and tackled him into the room. As he crouched on the unconscious body of their friend, Arsenal glared around at the other four men as they stood up from the card table they were at, "Hiya, fellas." he winked, "Bad time?"

They all went for guns at once, and he jumped forward, "A basic rule of combat," he lectured as he took the man in front off his feet with a solid punch to the face, "is that you never draw a gun in a close quarters combat situation. Especially when you outnumber your opponent." Arsenal ducked as one of the men fired at him and shot one of the other thugs, who jerked back, clutching at his shoulder.

The red haired Titan continued, "Guns only benefit the side that has fewer of them in situations like this..." he lashed out with a high kick and smashed another of the gunmen's noses, putting him down as well. Turning on the other two, he grinned, "However," he jumped forward, ducked and rolled past their shots as they opened up at him, "sometimes, there's an exception." He ended his roll standing right in front of them with two hand guns pointed at their foreheads. "Drop 'em." He ordered, and the two men complied.

Arsenal pulled his guns back and pistol whipped both of them, putting them down for the count as well. With a frown, he advanced on the door that would lead him down to the third level.

* * *

As soon as the gun shots started, and Pat looked away from her and towards the door, Jinx made her move. She pulled her head back from him and yanked down on her left hand, breaking her own thumb as she pulled it through the cuff. The blood from her wrist lubricated the passage through though, so she kept most of the skin on her hand.

Sitting up, she gripped the slack of her write chain with her right hand and swung her legs around, sweeping Pat off his feet. As he hit the ground hard and the gun flew out of his grip, she lowered a hard axe kick into his gut, knocking the wind out of him. Reaching out a shaking left hand, she used her index finger and her middle finger to pull the remote from his pocket and start pushing buttons.

Her chains moved up, then down, then back up before she found the button that opened them. Pulling her right hand down, she took the remote with it and pointed it at Lilith. One button click later and the red head was free as well. She curled up into a ball and sobbed, clutching at her right hand.

Jinx tossed aside the remote and turned her attention back to the recovering Pat. As he sat up on all fours, Jinx lashed out, kicking him in the face. He flipped back over to his back and hit the ground hard, slamming his head into it as he did. Jinx didn't let up for a second.

"You sick mother fucker!" she screamed as she straddled his body. Hauling back her good hand, she started to repeatedly punch him in the face, "You'll never do this to another girl again! NEVER!" His face was just a mess of blood by the time the door was kicked in and Arsenal came in with guns aimed around.

Jinx got up and pulled Pat up with her. Tossing him across the room into the wall of torture devices, she walked over and picked up his gun. Turning, she pointed it at his head.

* * *

Arsenal had moved over to check on Lilith when he saw Jinx was up, but he froze when he saw her with the gun. Taking in her appearance, he noted that her back was a mess of lash marks and blood, her face was dripping with more blood and saliva, and her left hand was broken.

"Jenny..." he said in a slow, calm voice, "He didn't... did he rape you?"

"I had to suck his dick for about ten minutes, but that's it." Jinx spit back at him. Her eyes narrowed, "Leave, Jason."

Arsenal looked over at the terrified Gronds, then back at Jinx. His eyes grew cold, "I'm not going to stop you from doing anything, Jenny... just remember that you're one of the good guys." Scooping up Lilith, he stepped over to the door and walked out of the room.

Jinx glared fiercely at Gronds, "Alone at last, eh?" she took a few steps forward and grinned, "It's time to make sure you never take any more girls and do to them what you did to me, you sick bastard."

"Please! If you're a Titan... you can't kill me! I don't want to die!" he was crying like a seven year old girl with a skinned knee, "Please!"

"Did any of your other victims beg, Patty?" she sneered at him, "Did they beg you to stop hurting them, raping them, or beating them to death?" He paled even more and began to sweat, shrinking back from her suddenly glowing pink gaze, "I don't really think you deserve any mercy. And after what you just put me though... there's not a jury on Earth that would convict me."

Grond's eyes went wide as she pulled back the hammer of the gun, "Never again." she said. Pointing the gun down, she fired one shot between his legs. The man screamed as the bullet blew apart a rather sensitive part of his body, and he fell to one side, howling and clutching at himself.

Jinx turned around and walked away, never looking back.

* * *

When she got to the surface, Jinx saw Arsenal putting Lilith in the back seat of his Achiva. She walked over, shivering in pain and at the cold of the desert night. When he looked up at her with questions in his eyes, she looked away, "He's still alive, but I blew his balls off."

"Blackfire," Arsenal said as he raised a hand to his ear, "call in the cops and EMTs. I wont have to dispose of any evidence after all." He nodded at whatever her response was, then stood up. He started over to her, then dashed when he saw her legs giving out.

Careful not to touch her back, Arsenal lowered her to the ground as she started sobbing and crying into his shoulder. He held her to him, stroking her hair, "Shh... it's over now Jenny... I've got you..."

Looking up at the clear night sky, Arsenal blanked his mind and sighed. There were so many stars.

So very many stars...

* * *

Closing Notes: I continue my theme from Re-Educating Miss Roth of abusing the crap out of the characters. If you think I'm picking on Jinx too much, don't worry. She'll have her day, and it'll be a great one. As for the rage and backlash I'm expecting from the hints of Jinx/Roy in this chapter... well, we'll just leave that one alone for now.

As a more personal note, as I stated in my forum (go browse it if you haven't yet!) I'll be moving this weekend, and dealing with all the troubles that come with it. New ISP will be needed, so don't expect another update, or any communication from me at all after Friday. I'll be back on as soon as I get things sorted out. Shouldn't be more than a 5-10 days. Thanks for your understanding, and thanks for hitting the review button like you're about to now.


	4. Wonder Girls

Jump City Symphony

A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonald

Opening notes: This is the shortest chapter I've written in this entire series. There just wasn't enough material to make it any longer, sorry. Making up for that is the other updates I've put out for the other stories I'm working on now.

Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Teen Titans.

* * *

_**Wonder Girls**_

_**

* * *

**_

Kylee stood in the gym of Titans Tower, moving and flexing in her new outfit, getting a feel for the way it rested on her body. She hadn't realized it was so much work to put it on.

First came her specialized undergarments. Both the bra and the underwear were lined with various devices that monitored her vital stats, as well as a GPS transmitter that would turn on when any of those stats fell below a certain level.

Next was the under-suit. It was a black body suit that covered her arms down to just below her elbows, and her legs down to just below her knees. Over that she put on a black vest that held the ballistics stopping layers of her costume, as well as a mesh weave that would stop knife and arrow impacts up to eight hundred pounds.

Over the top of the rest of the outfit went her white tunic with the blue and gold angel design on the front of it, and the loose white pants. Both of those were wired throughout with a single use high voltage tazer charge that would blast anyone holding her if she squeezed her hand in the right way and hit the button on her right glove.

Last was the skirt with the wide slits to allow her legs to move about, the utility belt Nightwing had personally stocked for her, and the dagger she wore at her back. The final touch was her fingerless gloves with the golden half orbs on them. The orbs had a few functions, including flashlights, EMP generators and hard surfaces to make her back handed strikes much more effective.

All in all, it took almost fifteen minutes to don the whole thing. As she finished getting a feel for the weight though, she grinned, knowing it was all worth it.

"So where do we start?" she asked Nightwing as he entered the gym.

"Just where we should. You've got a feel for the weight, right? Then let's get you a feel for your balance. Up on the beam." he pointed to a balance beam, and she jogged over to it. As she jumped up, he continued, "With all the layers you're going to be a little restricted in your movements. Start with something simple and work up to harder things. Handstand."

Kylee complied, and her skirt fell down over her eyes, "Damn." she muttered.

"A style flaw, but not a big one." Nightwing shook his head, "You probably wont have to hold a handstand for very long out in the field. Back down. Try a back handspring."

Kylee lowered herself to her feet and executed the move perfectly. Coming back up she nodded, "I see what you mean. The weight does throws me off a little, but the outfit doesn't flex like my workout clothes do."

"Right. Jump down and head to the sparring mats. Let's get you a feel for fighting."

"Alright." Kylee jumped off the beam and glided across the room to the sparing mats. Nightwing followed her, shaking his head and chuckling.

"You really enjoy flying, don't you?"

"If you could... Dick you would do it every chance you got."

"I guess. Ready?"

"Yes." Kylee took up a stance.

"Then attack. I'll defend until you get a good feel for the equipment."

Kylee nodded, and came at him in a flurry of blows. Nightwing blocked and dodged all of them with ease, and after a few minutes, he stepped back, "Enough. How's it feel?"

"Stiff, like you said. I feel slower with all the extra weight."

"From now on when we spar, I want you wearing all your gear. You need to know how to fight in it before you're ready to do any combat in the field. Since we wont be doing any tonight, we wont postpone anything."

Kylee nodded, "So are we good to go?"

"Sure." Nightwing nodded, then knelt down and looked her in the eye, "Just remember one thing, Kylee." he was suddenly very serious, and the white orbs of his mask made his gaze depthless, "When we go out there tonight... things can happen. Dangerous things. No matter how well you've been trained so far, it's not enough. No matter how simple the fight seems, you're not ready. No matter how badly I may need help... you wait for another Titan to arrive. Do not... and I mean it... _do not_ under _any_ circumstances, try to help me until _I_ say a fight is over. Do you understand?"

Kylee frowned, "I wont let you get killed, Dick."  
Nightwing frowned back, then reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Kylee... if it comes to that... run away. As fast as you can. Anything that I can't handle on my own, we still wont be able to handle together. Promise me you'll look out for yourself first."

"I can't. I promised myself that I'd never stand down if I had to fight, and-"

"Kylee." Nightwing pulled her forward and hugged her. She was surprised at first. She'd never seen him touch anyone in such an intimate manner, other than Starfire. After a moment, she relaxed and hugged him back.

"Dick?" she whispered.

"Kylee," he muttered into her hair, "As strong as you are... I wont let you die just because you feel you have to fight evil. That's my job... yours is just to grow up into an amazing and wonderful woman... don't throw that away just because of some silly oath."

"Silly?" she struggled in his arms, but he didn't let go of her, "Dick, what the hell are you-"

"It's one thing to say you'd die for justice," Nightwing said in a strong voice, still holding her tightly, "but it's another to say you'll live to always uphold it."

Kylee stopped squirming, and stood there. A moment later, she threw her arms back around his neck and squeezed him, "Oh Dick!" her eyes felt wet, "Okay... I promise I'll leave things to you... but I'm going to stay close in case you need healing after a fight."

"That's a compromise I can deal with." Nightwing stepped back from her and smiled down on her rosy face, "Dry your eyes then, and let's hit the pavement."

* * *

"What are we checking out tonight?" Kylee asked as the two of them walked through the garage of Titans Tower. Nightwing stopped in front of his new bike (he'd let Raven keep the re-painted R-Cycle) and picked up a helmet. Turning to the young girl, he took on a serious expression.

"We're checking out a few disturbances and thefts that I suspect have an arcane nature to them. Even at the simple level of magic you know right now, you're still light years ahead of me in that department, so I'll be relying on you to pick up anything I don't."

"So this is like, a real case?" Kylee's grin widened.

"Yes, it is." Nightwing frowned down at her, "It's also a very important one, so I expect you to stay sharp and keep up with the pace of the investigation."

Kylee became somber, "Yes Sir."

"Good girl." Nightwing handed her a helmet and straddled his bike. As Kylee climbed up behind him, he turned and looked down at her, "Now remember… when we're outside these walls, out there on the street, I'm Nightwing. Don't call me anything else. Likewise, I'll be calling you Seraph, so learn to respond to that name quickly."

"Right." Kylee nodded, and Nightwing turned back around. Kicking the bike over, he revved it once, then twice, then peeled out of the garage, hitting eighty miles per hour before they were at the end of the drive that led to the land bridge.

Kylee squealed with delight the whole time.

* * *

It was a half hour later when they stopped and dismounted the bike. The two of them were in the parking lot of a run down strip mall on the outskirts of town, near a section of suburbs that had fallen into disrepair and were quickly becoming a slum. The lot was marked off with crime scene tape.

Seraph looked around herself, checking for any trace signatures of magical activity. She frowned, "I don't sense that any magic was performed here, Nightwing. Of course, it has to be fairly powerful to leave behind a trace that I can detect, so weaker spells or powers could have been used."

"I don't think we're looking for anything too advanced." Nightwing replied, "This is the site of a rather brutal murder… no witnesses, happened in the middle of the night, and made a huge mess." He stopped and looked down, indicating the ground with one hand.

Seraph looked down at her feet and gasped. They were standing in the middle of a chalk outline that had a dark brown stain spreading from it in all directions for almost four feet. She felt sick suddenly, and swayed.

Nightwing's hand held her steady, "He was sliced up so badly they couldn't even identify him without his dental records. Fingers were all gone, so printing was out, eyes were gouged out, and his heart and liver had been removed."

"That sounds… black." Seraph looked up at him so she wouldn't stare at the blood stains anymore, "I don't know any black magic… it hurts me."

"I know." Nightwing nodded, "What I'm hoping you do know is what this rune is." He pointed to the ground again, and she looked down reluctantly. Etched into the pavement of the parking lot was an arcane rune, partially chipped away. A quick look around confirmed that whoever had tried to dispose of it had gotten sloppy; there were five other runes that had been completely chipped away.

Bending down and holding out a hand, Seraph flexed her glove, activating the lamp in the orb on the back of it. Soft golden light spilled around the two Titans, and she squinted at the rune. After a moment she shook her head, "It's incomplete."

"Yeah, it's been ruined, probably in an effort to erase evidence of a ritual." Nightwing nodded, "Can you give me a good guess?"

"One of two runes I can think of." Seraph sat back on her heels and looked around again as she spoke, "The rune for summoning something dark, or a rune for protection from a demon. With the right application and combination of other runes, those two can be combined into the same one. Kind of a magical shortcut."

"I see." Nightwing was taking notes on a small notepad that he pulled from his utility belt, "What are you looking for?"

"A reflective surface to summon through. Usually a minor demon can be summoned through a mirror or a particularly reflective sheet of glass." She stood and nodded towards the tinted windows of a former tanning salon that had gone out of business.

"Evaluation?" Nightwing asked as he continued to scribble in his notebook.

"Summoning mirror available, summoning runes present, six runes in total, and a human sacrifice?" Seraph frowned, "I think someone was trying to summon demonic powers, if not outright summoning a demon."

"Huh." Nightwing frowned and tucked away his note pad.

"So… we have a demonoligist on our hands?" Seraph frowned deeper.

"Don't look so dour." The older Titan nudged her, "Your foster mother _is_ a demon."

"Half a demon." Seraph corrected, "And Raven is different. This just seems… someone was trying to do something very bad, Nightwing." She shivered, "Something very, very bad."

"That's what the Titans are here for, Seraph." Nightwing smiled down at her, and she smiled back.

A bleeping came through the com, and both of them pulled out their T-Comps. Flipping them open, Nightwing spoke first, "Go ahead Operator."

_"I've got a fire call coming out of the East End for a Metehuman attack in progress."_ She sounded rushed.

Nightwing scowled, "We're non-combatants tonight, Operator, give it to Terra."

"_No good."_ The Operator replied, _"It looks kinda' nasty and you're way closer."_ She took on a cross tone, _"Dock raid's going down any second now, so I'm gonna be busy. Blackfire is helping Roy with something, so you two are on your own for a while. Operator out."_

There was a click as she signed off, and Nightwing growled, "Damnit… ignoring my orders… I… she…" he composed himself after a minute, then let out a breath. Turning to Seraph, he took on a leadership tone, "Call Terra and follow me from the sky. Stay back from whatever we're going to be fighting, but keep a sharp eye out."

"Can I-"

"No, you can't help if I need it. Wait for Terra."

"Okay." Seraph nodded, and felt butterflies in her stomach. This would be her first real battle situation as a Titan. She was determined to make it through without freaking out or disobeying orders. This was important. Peoples lives were at stake…

"I'm gonna' choke so bad…" Seraph's face fell, and Nightwing grinned.

"You'll do fine. Let's go."

* * *

They arrived on the scene to find several flaming wrecks of cars and quite a few holes in the surrounding buildings. This was fortunetly a condemned residential area, so there were no civilians to be injured. As Seraph landed on the ground next to Nightwing, he scratched his head.

"Where's this metahuman assilent?" he asked.

"I don't see anyone…" Seraph looked around, then stretched her awarness out. Turning her eyes towards a large hole in one of the buildings to her left, she pointed, "There's someone in there."

"I'll take a look. Stay here." Nightwing started to take a step forward, but even as he did, a small form came flying out of the hole with a shrike. The dark haired Titan stopped and blinked. "Uh… our metahuman attacker screams like a girl?"

Seraph blinked as well, then her eyes grew wide as a huge, hulking man charged out of the hole with a war cry.

"Holy shit!" Nightwing grabbed Seraph and jumped out of the way as the nine foot tall meta slammed past them. He landed on his back with her clutched to his chest and slid a few feet. They both looked over at the first figure to fly from the hole and saw that it was a young girl, no older than fourteen, who was getting to her feet and scowling at the meta. As he made it up to her, he hauled back a fist and let a punch fly that would flatten her.

The girl stuck out both hands and caught the punch, stopping it dead. She grit her teeth, "You just don't know when to give up, do you?" she asked in an irritated manner, then flew up into the air and hurled him down into the street, where he landed with a solid thud.

Seraph looked up at the girl with wide eyes, then back down at Nightwing, "Who's that?"

"I don't know." He narrowed his eyes, "Seraph?"

"Yeah?"

"Get off of me."

"Oh!" Seraph blushed beet red and jumped up off of him, "Sorry! Sorry sorry sorry!"

He chuckled as he stood, then looked up as the girl flew down and landed in front of them. She grinned as she spoke, "Hey! The Titans show up at last!"

Nightwing scowled down at her and barked, "Who the hell are you, and what the hell are you doing in Jump?"

The girl cowered away, then got an angry look on her face and stepped back up to him. She squared her shoulders and planted her feet, scowling.

Nightwing and Seraph got a good look at her for the first time. She wore sneakers and skating knee pads, along with tight red bicycling shorts. Her black leather jacket covered most of her black t-shirt, but they could see the twin W's printed on it in gold. Her long black hair spilled loosely around her shoulders, and the pair of goggles she wore masked her eye color.

"I," the girl stated in a proud voice, "am Wonder Girl."

Nightwing arched an eyebrow, "Kind of a long way from Gateway City, aren't you?"

"Uh…" Wondergirl fumbled for words suddenly, "Well, Diana… er… Wonder Woman sent me here to, um… well…"

"I didn't even know Diana _had_ a side kick." Nightwing shook his head, "Hold on… I'll call her and ask…"

Wonder Girl paled, "You can _call _Wonder Woman?"

Seraph gaped at Nightwing as well, "Can you?"

"Sure." He shrugged, "I'll just patch into the Batcave, pick up the JLA com signal and ask her from there." Nightwing pulled out his T-Comp.

"Whoa! Wait a sec!" Wonder Girl waved her arms frantically, "She'll kill me! I'm not even supposed to be using my powers out here, and-" she stopped and looked at Nightwing for a second, then scowled again, "You tricked me into saying that."

"Which is why I'm a real super hero, and you're a side kick." He grinned, "Now why don't you tell me what you think you're doing here?"

"I'm… uh… patrolling. And I came across this guy looting this building here," she waved a hand at one of the mostly destroyed buildings, "so I stopped him."

"Wonder Girl," Nightwing rubbed his eyes through his mask, "go home. Go home, and listen to what Diana says. The Titans can handle Jump without you-"

A huge meaty hand reached out suddenly and grabbed Wonder Girl's head. She gave a muffled shrike though the clamped fingers as the meta suddenly stood up from behind her and hurled her bodily through the wall of the building to their right.

As he turned on the two Titans, he found only Seraph standing in front of him. Turing to look for Nightwing, he didn't see the dark form of the vigilantie suddenly jumping up from behind him. The dark haired Titan extended a staff and whipped it around the meta's neck, choking him and yanking back on his head, "Seraph!" Nightwing shouted, "Check on Wonder Girl, and call Terra! I need her now!"

"Alright!" Seraph scampered across the street to the new hole Wonder Girl had made.

* * *

Wonder Girl came to slowly, shaking her head and reaching up to brush some of the rubble off of her self. She found a glowing golden hand above her head, and winced at the light, "Turn that down a bit, will ya?"

"Sorry." Seraph said as she held the other girl down with her free hand, "I can't make it any less bright. Stay down for a minute while I finish healing you."

"What's wrong with me?"

"Minor head wound." Seraph replied, "Nothing I can't heal."

"Right." Wonder Girl sat back again, "Where's the brusier?"

"Nightwing is fighting him out side."

"By himself?"

"He can handle it." Seraph reached out her glowing hand, "This cut runs up under your hair line. Hold still." As she reached out to brush Wonder Girl's bangs up, the other teen swatted at her hand.

"No! I'm fine, I can-"

"You're not fine!" Kylee scowled, "Just let me heal you!"  
"No!" Wonder Girl tried to ward her off again as Seraph came back at her, and a brief slapping match ensued. Finally, Seraph proved faster and her hand shot out, pushing up Wonder Girl's bangs.

And pushing her hair right off her head.

With a shrike, Seraph jumped back, "Holy crap! I didn't mean to…" she trailed off as she got a better look. A black wig was laying on the ground next to them, and Wonder Girl was clutching at her shoulder length blonde hair with a frown.

"Great." She muttered, "It takes forever to get that to stay in place properly."  
"Uh…" Seraph frowned, "I know it makes you look more like Wonder Woman and all, but why do you wear a wig?"

"That's the only reason. I'm suppose to be like her daughter or something, aren't I?"

"Well, I'm not really like my foster mother or anything…" Seraph took in the other girl's blonde hair and blue eyes, and pretty face. Her own eyes grew wide suddenly, "Wait a second… _Cassie_?"

"Uh…" Wonder Girl blinked up at her, then sat up and gaped, "Kylee? I thought you said you didn't go out on missions yet!"

"Well, since I got suspended for beating up those kids… why are we talking about this?" They blinked at each other, "What the hell… you're Wonder Girl?"

"Uh… yeah."

"And… wait a minute…"

"Yeah… this is a little awkward… it's kind of why I didn't tell you… probably why Bart didn't tell you either…"

"Wait a second… Bart _knew_?"

"Crap… shouldn't have told you that…"

Just as Seraph was about to speak again, the one intact window in the ruined building smashed in and Nightwing rolled out of the fall he'd been thrown into. His head was cut and bleeding, and he was favoring his right leg a little. He turned a glare on the two girls, "If the two of you are done chatting, do you think you could call Terra in?"

"Oh! Shit!" Seraph yanked out her T-Comp and flipped it open, "Seraph to Terra! Where are you?"

"Cool name!" Wonder Girl grinned.

"Thanks!"

"Seraph…" Nightwing growled.

"I'm not getting any response!"

_"I'm right above you, silly."_ Terra's voice crackled through the com, _"Should I bring the hurt down on the big guy with the flaming car, Nightwing?"_

"Flaming car?" Seraph and Wonder Girl both looked out the hole the blonde girl had made when she crashed through the wall and saw the huge meta just as he hurled the flaming wreck of a car at the building they were in.

As the car hit the wall outside, several things happened. First, the car exploded, sending a wall of fire and shrapnel at the three heroes inside. At the same time, Nightwing hurled himself at the two girls, covering them with his body, and taking the brunt of the explosion himself. Just two seconds later, a pile of rock landed on top of the meta, slamming him into the ground.

Silence fell, save the sound of crackling flame, and Wonder Girl pushed Nightwing up and off of them. She lay him back down gently, and Seraph was there in a heartbeat, checking him over.

"Nightwing?" she asked, turning his face towards hers, "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah… back's a little burned."

Seraph checked and winced, "A little. Try third degree burns. I'll heal the worst of it, but we need to get you back to the Tower."

Terra poked her head in around what was left of the car, "Hey! Everyone still alive in here?"

"Mostly!" Wonder Girl called back.

"Who the heck is she?" Terra jerked her head at the blonde teen.

"I'm Wonder Girl."

Seraph nodded, "She's Wonder Girl."

"Oh." Terra blinked.

The meta suddenly exploded out of the rock pile and charged the blonde Titan. Terra shouted in alarm as she was swatted aside.

"Terra!" Seraph stood up, then looked back down at the moaning Nightwing.

"Take care of him." Wonder Girl said, seeing the delima, "I'll handle the big guy."  
"Are you sure?" Seraph sounded scared.

"Trust me, Kylee. I can take a lot of abuse."

"Okay…" Seraph nodded, "Be careful."  
"Sure thing." Wonder Girl took to the air, and flew out the hole the car had just made much bigger.

Seraph turned back to Nightwing and summoned her healing powers. Holding out her hands, she started on his back.

* * *

Terra hurled herself to the side and avoided a massive punch, then rolled to her feet and waved a hand at the brute. Bricks started flying from around the devastated area and pelting into his head. If he felt it, he didn't show any signs of pain.

"Crap." Terra willed the ground around her to become a platform and she flew up out of the meta's reach just as he jumped for her again. She looked around for a sufficiently large hunk of something earthen to slam him with.

As she was looking, a blur shot from the building her friends were in and plowed into the meta. He slid along the ground on his back, even as Wonder Girl sat astride his chest, punching him repeatedly in the face, "You'd better stay down after this!" the blonde haired girl shouted, and continued to hammer at him.

Terra could tell the punches were hurting him, but not going to take him out. She summoned her powers and took hold of the barely standing top portion of the building that Nightwing and Seraph were still in. Pulling up, she wrenched it free and turned her burning golden gaze back to the fight below her.

Just as she'd predicted, the meta finally threw a punch, slamming Wonder Girl off of him. As the young woman tumbled to a stop and jumped back up, Terra shouted down at her, "Hey Wondy! Get clear!"

Wonder Girl looked up, and her eyes grew wide. She flew backwards, away from the fight, then ducked behind a car and covered her head.

Terra dropped the top two floors of the apartment building on top of the metahuman with an almighty crash.

As the dust cloud rose up around her, Terra spit down at the rubble, "And stay down, bitch."

* * *

An hour later, the doors to the medical wing of Titans Tower opened and Seraph walked through them. She was helping Nightwing to walk, as he was still limping badly on his right leg, and his weight was really pulling on her.

Making a mental note to increase her strength training, she deposited the older Titan on a bed and pushed his hair back from his bloodstained forehead.

"You shouldn't have taken that hit for me, Dick."

"It's my job to take hits for you." He winced and rolled to his side, "Back is still tender…"

"It will be for a day or two. I can only heal so much, you know."

"Yeah." He grinned at her, "You did pretty good."

"I hardly did anything." She frowned at him.

"You stayed back like I told you to, you called Terra in like I told you to, and you healed the wounded like you wanted to." He nodded at her, "Good job."

"You realize that two of those reasons were me following your orders right?"

Nightwing grinned, "I'd yell at the rest of the team a lot less if they did half of what you did tonight."

Just then, Terra entered the wing, pushing Wonder Girl along in front of her, "Come on, Hot-To-Trot-Tot, you're still bleeding."

"I wouldn't _be_ bleeding if you hadn't dropped a freakin' building on top of that guy!" The younger girl had been hit by flying rubble and had several oozing wounds on her head and left arm. Seraph rolled her eyes and grabbed her friend's hand.

"Come over here, Cassie, and let me patch you up."

"Okay… look guys…" Wonder Girl pulled her hand back to herself and frowned around her, "I'm not a Titan, okay? I don't need your help, and I don't need-"

"Would you like to be?" Nightwing propped him self up on one arm and arched an eyebrow at the blonde haired girl.

"What?" she blinked at him.

"Would you like to be a Titan? Or a Teen Titan anyway."

"Uh…" Wonder Girl scratched her head, "What's the difference?"

"I'm a Teen Titan." Seraph replied, waving at her, "So are Bart and Robin."

"I thought _he_ was Robin." Wonder Girl pointed at Nightwing.

"No, the _new_ Robin. He works in Gotham." Terra pointed out, and shoved Wonder Girl forward another few steps, "At least let Kylee give you a few bandages."

"Fine, fine…" Wonder Girl hopped up on a bed, regarding Nightwing suspiciously, "Are you kidding with me?"

"Of course not. The younger generation of heroes needs to stick together. I know you probably think the sun rises and sets on Wonder Woman, but trust me…" he looked away from her, "The big guys up in the Watch Tower have their own share of problems and mistakes."

"Would I have to like… cut off all communication with Diana?"

"Of course not. Bart still trains with the Flash once a week, and I still talk to Batman… well, I talk _at_ Batman and he scowls and grunts at me." Wonder Girl giggled, and Nightwing grinned, "The point is, while you would have a room here, you don't even need to stay here."

"Really? I could stay here? In the Tower?" She sounded excited.

"Uh… yeah, you could…" Nightwing frowned, "Why are you in Jump anyway?"

"Oh… my Mom is a historian and she's been doing some work here… we're slated to move to LA in a few months… where I'll change schools _again_." She scowled, "The longest we ever lived in a place was Gateway City. That's where I got my powers and met Diana."

"I see…" Nightwing stood up and waved off Seraph's insistence that he lay back down, "In that case, I'd like to offer you membership. You certainly proved you can fight… even if you do need a lot of training."

"Heh…" Wonder Girl blushed and rubbed the back of her head with her right hand as Seraph dabbed at a cut on her left shoulder.

"We'll set you up with a room, and pending the approval of your mother, we'll let you stay here on a permanent basis."

"Really?" Wonder Girl and Seraph both said at the same time, then looked at each other with wide grins. The blonde haired girl beamed at her friend and slapped her arm, "Kylee… this is gonna be great."

Terra stepped up next to Nightwing and nudged him. He winced. "You think that was a good idea?"

He looked sidelong at her and smiled, "I think it'll be just what Kylee needs."

* * *

Closing Notes: I told you… short. Anyway, rack up one more new Titan. Wonder Girl has arrived. No, Donna Troy will not be making an appearance in this story. Sorry.

Next Time: Dock Raid.


	5. Dock Raid

Jump City Symphony

A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonalds

Opening Notes: Much too long between updates on this story. Sorry. But here it is, and there will be more to follow in a new story arch. If I can keep up. I hope.

Stop looking at me like that!

I know, I know… but I do have a degree to think about. So naa.

* * *

_**Dock Raid**_

_**  
**_

* * *

Raven settled lightly on top of a warehouse at the docks in City Section Nine. She pulled out her T-Comp and spoke into it, "All points report. Are we in position?"

Changeling was the first to respond, _"I'm set in the water."_

Cyborg's voice came next, _"I've got all the cameras in place, and I'm standing by inside building 274."_

_"I am in a good position to provide fire support and direct help should it be required."_ Starfire spoke up.

_"We're all set on this end,"_ the Operator said, _"All feeds are recording properly, and everyone's reading loud and clear. GPS on the incoming ship is telling me they have an ETA of twenty minutes." _

Raven set her face, "How's everyone else doing, Operator?"  
_"Arsenal and Jinx have just arrived at their destination, and Nightwing and Seraph are just left the Tower."_

"Keep an eye on Seraph for me, would you?"

_"Blackfire will be taking care of the other two operations tonight, Raven. I'm all yours for the time being." _

"Very well." Raven frowned. If anything happened to Kylee…

_"We're all set, Raven."_ Came Cyborg's voice, _"Orderes?"_

"We wait." Raven replied into her T-Comp, and snapped it shut.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, just as the Operator had predicted, the ship was slowly pulling into the docks. It took another half hour to get into position, and another half hour after that to drop anchors and mooring lines. The freighter was immense, and it seemed unusual that it was unloading at a single small dock, rather than one of the larger industrial piers further down the coast.

Raven squinted as two men from the port authority walked down the concrete dock to where a heavy steel gangplank was being extended from the ship. They waited while two men from the ship came down to the dock and spoke to them. Some papers were signed, and the two men from the port authority walked up the gangplank and into the ship.

The two men from the ship stayed behind. One of them pulled out a cell phone and punched a button. As he waited for the other end to pick up, Raven grabbed a pair of binoculars from next to her and centered them on the man's face.

She read his lips as he said two words, "Do it."

Moments later there came the sound of two rapid gunshots, then two more. Raven dropped the binoculars and yanked out her T-Comp, "All Titans hold position!" she hissed into it, "No one move in until we see what they're unloading!"

_"Raven, they just killed those guys! That's more than enough to raid the whole ship!"_ Cybrog replied.

"I'm not risking damage to a ship that could contain an arsenal of Intergang weaponry!" Raven continued to whisper, "They'll be running on a skeleton crew for this kind of covert smuggling, and it'll be easier to take them out on the dock than on the ship!"

_"But-"_

"Hold position, Cyborg! That's an order!" Raven closed her communicator before he could reply again, and centered her awareness on the ship, searching out life signs. After a few moments she blinked and nodded. She'd been right; there were only twelve men running the whole ship and unloading the freight.

After a few minutes, several platforms with tank treads started rolling out of the ships hold and down to the narrow dock. They were just wide enough, and all of them were covered with tarps. Raven cursed silently, and pulled out her com again, "All points… wait until we see at least ten men down on the dock, then move on my mark."

_"Understood." _Starfire responded.

_"Got it." _Came Changeling's voice.

_"Can't wait." _Cyborg replied.

* * *

The men unloading the ship had been at it for forty minutes already, and the crew captain was getting a little edgy, "Let's move it, shit heads! The green Titan makes his sweep of the docks every night in less than an hour, and we still have a third of the product left to unload!"

"This is the biggest shipment we've had yet!" replied one of the workers who was driving one of the huge platforms down the gangplank, "It takes some time!"

"Then make it take less time or we're all gonna be sitting in cells come morning!"

"Right, right." The man waved off the captain's threat and drove on. Scowling at him, the captain turned to check how much more they had to unload.

Standing right in front of him, was Changeling.

"Uh…"

"Hey there." The green Titan said cheerfully, "Long night? You seem cranky."

The captain re-gained his ability to speak and shouted, "The Titans are here! Arm yourselves!"

Changeling's hands shot out and grabbed him by his shirtfront. A moment later, a half-ton mountain gorilla was hurling him down the dock and up on top of one of the platforms. He landed with a grunt, and didn't get back up as his clipboard clattered to the dock below.

As the men started scrambling for weapons, a hail of starbolts fired from the right side of the docks, blasting the treads off the wheels of the platforms that were still moving in a line along it. Several of the men ducked, but two of them dove under the tarps that were covering their cargo.

The three men that were in the warehouse they were loading stuff into (number 274) came running out, screaming. A blue blast from a sonic cannon took one of the men off his feet, and Cyborg came running out behind them a moment later, grabbing another one of them and yanking him up off the ground. He hurled the man over his shoulder and into the wall of the warehouse.

A voice echoed around the area in a haunting rhythm, "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" All the tarps flew up off the platforms, and the Titans got a good look at what they were interrupting a moment later.

The two men that had ducked under the tarps had each activated the four drone robots that each platform held. As the mechanical monsters stood up, they were revealed to be just like the one that the Titans had fought outside Raven and Arsenal's apartment some months before.

Raven, floating above the action, shouted into her com, "Changeling, see what you can do about rounding up the remaining men! Cyborg, Starfire! Take out those robots!"

_"What about you?"_ the Operator's voice crackled over the com.

"I'll help where I'm needed." Raven replied, and put away her T-Comp. Holding out her hands, she prepared to use her powers.

* * *

Starfire plowed straight down through a drioid and screamed out a cry of rage as she whirled about in mid air and hurled a huge blast of green energy at another one. As it exploeded, she grit her teeth and flew backwards, "Raven!" she called, "There are too many for me to destroy them all! I require assistance!"

A little ways away, Cyborg was ducking behind a stack of crates and poking his head out now and then, firing his sonic cannon at a group of men with laser rifles that had him pinned down. Changeling was in the water as a giant squid, holding three men up in the air with his tentacles.

Raven, her eyes glowing white hot, directed her powers to take hold of several of the deactivated robots and hurl them like projectiles into the active ones. Starfire nodded her thanks and threw another punch, blasting the head off of the one she was struggling with.

Cyborg finally got in a lucky shot and the men firing at him ducked back as one of them went down. A tentacle wrapped around the other two and pulled them off the dock. As they shouted in alarm, they were dunked repeatedly in the water until they lost their guns.

Free from having to contend with the mooks with the lasers, Cyborg jumped out of his cover and tackled one of the last three robots. As he pounded its head in, Starfire grabbed another of them and lifted it above her head. Screaming, she ripped it in half.

Raven watched the last robot make a suicide charge at Changeling, and held out a hand, lashing out with black telekinetic energy.

The robot fell into several pieces before it could make it to the edge of the dock.

Silence descended over the docks as the captive Intergang members moaned in defeat. Raven landed next to Starfire and Cyborg walked over a moment later. "Might as well give 'em here, Gar." He said, motioning the giant squid to hand over the thugs, "We can tie 'em up and call the cops."

Raven surveyed the damage to the area, then turned to Starfire, "Kori, could you gather up the parts of the droids you didn't burn away into nothing and pile them in the center mover?"

"Right away." Star replied and flew off to her task. As Changeling (once again in his humanoid form) and Cyborg went about binding the mooks, Raven pulled out her T-Comp and flipped it open, "Operator?"

_"Here."_ Sarah replied on the voice only, _"You guys did really well."_

"None of us are even hurt. I'm starting to think this was too easy."

_"Well, count your blessings. I just checked in with 'Wing and Seraph. They're doing okay." _

"Good." Raven was about to ask another question when she felt a sudden sharp pain in the back of her head. She winced and stumbled a little, then clutched at her hair in agaony, "Oh… sweet Azar… Jenny…"

_"Raven?"_ Sarah sounded freaked out, _"Rae, what's wrong?"_

"Jenny… Sarah… where the hell is Jenny?"

_"She's… Blackfire's working that case, hold on…"_

_"Raven?"_ it was Blackfire, _"Jinx was abducted a while ago… Roy just caught up to her and is in the process of rescuing her. Wait… hold on."_

"No!" Raven shouted, "Blackfire, tell me where they are! She's… Goddess she's so angry! I've never felt her like this…"

_"Raven!"_ Blackfire sounded frantic, _"Arsenal is en-rout to the Tower with Jinx and one other wounded. They need help… badly. You have to get back here as soon as possible." _

_"Call just came in from Seraph too."_ Sarah cut in, _"Nightwing got a little banged up, and so did… uh… Wonder Girl."_

Raven shook her head, banishing the cobwebs of rage she felt there, "I'll be back to the Tower in a few minutes. Operator, I need you and Kylee to prep the infirmary for triage."

"R-right…" Sarah didn't sound to comfortable with that idea, "Blackfire is taking over the boards then."

"Right." Raven flipped her com shut and turned to the assembled Titans, "Cy, can you and Starfire handle the loose ends here?"

"Sure… what's wrong?"

"Injuries back at the Tower… Jinx and Nightwing both, plus a few extras… not sure what's going down." Changeling had turned a paler shade of green when his lovers name was mentioned, and he took a step forward.

"Rae… is Jenny…?"

"Roy reported that she was hurt pretty bad… I think you should come with me back to the Tower."

Changeling shivered in fear and worry and nodded, "Right." A moment later, a large hawk was flying towards the bay. Raven watched him gain a thermal and flap higher for a moment, then she too lifted off the ground and flew towards their home.

* * *

Kylee was waiting for her when Raven bustled through the doors of the medical level. As she accepted a chart from her foster daughter, Raven spoke, "What's the situation?"

"On who? I've got three Titans banged up…"

"Three?" Raven stopped outside of the infirmary door and glanced inside at Nightwing and Wondergirl. The blonde looked up and waved, and Nightwing gave a weary salute.

"Wondergirl was just offered membership." Kylee looked worried, "I'm happy about that, but Jenny… Raven she's pretty bad."

"How bad?"

"She was tortured… I… I didn't want to do too much before you got here… her mental condition is all over the place right now, and it's all Jason can do to keep her aware of things."

"Great Azar… I'll deal with Jenny. There was one more?"

"Her name is Lilith. She was hurt along with Jenny, but she's in a much better condition… I can heal her easily enough, but she's still really scared."

"Dick can talk to her when he's feeling up to it." Raven put a hand on her daughter's shoulder, "You've done very well, Seraph. Just finish up, then go hit the showers. You'll need to be up early to file a report in the morning."

"Okay." Kylee nodded, then walked to a private room and opened the door. Raven caught a glimpse of a tallish looking red head lying on the table before the door shut. Turning, she walked down the hall to the secondary infirmary and stopped at the half opened door, peering inside.

Arsenal stood next to a bed, holding a damp cloth in one hand, and a set of forceps in the other. In the forceps he had a cotton ball soaked in disinfectant and blood, and was gently dabbing at the back of the prone form of a girl with pink and blonde hair lying perfectly still. As she watched, he muttered things softly.

"Don't worry, Jenny… you're safe now. He can't hurt you anymore, and Raven will be here soon to help you." She moaned something so soft, Raven couldn't hear it, but Arsenal just shook his head, "I know it hurts, Jen, but you have to tough it out… come on, where'd the girl who hacked through half an army of undead monsters go?" she muttered something else, and he laughed a little, "Sure… but only if you get better, okay?"

Raven narrowed her eyes, as she sensed the emotions emanating from her boyfriend. He shouldn't be feeling that way. Not about another woman. Especially not about her best friend.

Stepping into the room, Raven spoke in a cold voice, "Roy. I need you to leave."

He looked over at her, and smiled in relief, "Whatever you say, Raven. If you'll work better while I'm not here-"

"We'll talk about why I want you to leave later. Just get out."

Arsenal looked at her strangely, but nodded slowly anyway, "Sure thing… I'll just… see how Dick's holding up."

"You do that." Raven glared at him as he walked past her, then shut the door after him. As she turned back to Jinx, she was shocked to see her friend sitting halfway up and wincing. She was lying face down, and seemed to be having trouble supporting any weight on her left hand. Raven felt their mental bond twinge.

"Raven…" Jinx rasped, "We didn't… there… nothing _happened_…"

Raven growled low in her throat, "He still shouldn't be feeling that way about you."

"It's been a stressful night for him… and you know I would never… I mean…"

"I know." Raven walked over to Jinx and pushed her back down gently, "Just lie still while I go over you… can you tell me what hurts the most?"

"My mouth… he yanked a few molars."

"Damn." Raven shook her head, "I can't grow you back teeth."

"That's fine. Just… my left hand and my back… the ribs and the cut on my face can heal on their own."

"I can do it all."

"Raven…" Jinx looked up at her, "Don't die healing me again."

Raven stared for a moment, then nodded slowly, "I'll have Kylee come help in a bit then… after I clean you up."

"Good." Jinx nodded and settled back down, "She doesn't need to see me like this."

"No one should have to see you like this."

"Where's Gar?"

"He's in the main room. I told him I'd call him up after I saw how bad things were. I'll do it after I get rid of most of the blood."

Jinx closed her eyes, "Thank you."

Raven just nodded and held out her hands. As he palms began to glow and heal her friend, the pain started to flare across her own back.

She clenched her jaw down and bore it out.

* * *

Some hours later, Cyborg and Starfire walked into the main room of the Tower and made a b-line for the kitchen. "Need… food…" Cyborg muttered.

Starfire giggled, "You are silly, Victor."

"And you're a pretty red headed alien girl who knows she wants a ham sandwich!" he shot back.

Starfire's face lit up, "With extra mustard please!"

"Well alright!" Cyborg walked to the fridge and opened it, bending down to gather his sandwich materials. Starfire floated down to a chair and sat prettily, waiting. As silence fell over them, they became aware of the sound of sniffling and quiet sobbing.

Both Titans leaned back around the corner of the kitchen counter and looked into the living room. There, sitting on the couch, was Changeling, leaned forward with his face buried in the crook of Terra's neck, sobbing into her blonde hair. She had her arms wrapped around his shoulders, and he clutched desperately at her waist. Cyborg and Starfire watched with their eyes wide.

Terra spoke softly, "Gar, it's going to be fine… Raven is here now, and Kylee has quite the healing touch herself. Jenny will be good as new in less than an hour."

"But… you said she… she reported that…"

"Sexual assault is nothing to take lightly, Gar, but it's _Jenny_. If anyone can bounce back from it quickly it's her. And she has you… you're the most supportive boyfriend in the Tower… not even Dick is as dedicated to Kori as you are to Jen."

"She's… so important to me…" Changeling choked a little, then sat back from Terra, "I don't know… she had _better_ have beat that guy into a bloody pulp…"

Terra looked away, "She shot him."

Changeling paled a little, "Is he… she didn't kill him… did she?"

"No… I guess he was bleeding pretty heavily though. She did blow his boys off."

"No way." Changeling flopped back, "Can't wait to see that press release. How'd Dick take it?"

"He just nodded and told Jenny she'd done good work. Kylee looked a little green."

"I'm dating a real ball buster, huh?"

"And the bad jokes are back." Terra stood up, "I'd say you're done sobbing on me now."

As she turned to walk towards the kitchen, she locked eyes with Starfire and Cyborg. Before she could move any further away, or say anything to them, Changeling's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, "Terra! I'm sorry… could you… sit with me a little longer? I just… I don't want the others to see me… like this."

Terra blinked at the Titans in the kitchen, then turned back to the green skinned Titan, "Yeah. Yeah, I've got all night."

"Thanks." As she sat back down, he rested his head on her shoulder, "Thanks a lot."

"Any time, B."

As Terra slung an arm around his shoulders, Cyborg and Starfire moved back into the kitchen, and sat in silence, absorbing what they'd just heard.

* * *

Lilith lay in on a bed in a dark room, staring over at a display screen next to her. She didn't quite understand all the things that the little girl, Seraph, had told her the bed was monitoring, but she did know she'd been told she was healed to perfection, except for her fingernails. While they no longer hurt, and Seraph had healed them over with a protective layer of skin, the nails would have to grow back on their own.

Looking up at the ceiling, the red haired physic let out a sigh. She'd told Jinx not to go using herself as bait, and now they'd both been hurt. Why didn't any other metas take her powers seriously? She hadn't been lying when she'd told Jinx her powers come and go, but what she hadn't told her was that when they came, they were so powerful it frightened her. The visions were so real…

Suddenly there was a bleeping sound, and a mans voice filled the room, "Lilith? This is Nightwing. May I come in?"

Looking around for any kind of intercom button or microphone, Lilith shrugged. She called out, "I guess."

He must have been able to hear her, because the doors swooshed open and the dark form of Nightwing limped in. Seraph followed behind him in a calm and serene manner, so out of place on a young girl like her. The older Titan pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed, "How are you feeling?"

"Fine, I guess." Lilith sat up and rotated her middle, where she'd had bruised ribs until just a half hour before, "Seraph really healed me up good."

"Good. It's her first night of active duty, but she's been practicing that healing touch of hers for months." He smiled gently, "If it's not too much troubled, I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"About my powers." Lilith sank back and frowned.

"Yes. And about some other things."

"Okay." Lilith looked down at her toes. "Go ahead."

"We'll start with the nature of your powers. You're psychic?"

"Yeah. I get visions of the future sometimes, and others I can catch a snippet or two of peoples thoughts. Really distracting when you're trying to dance and someone's thinking about sticking it up your-" she stopped herself and looked over at Seraph, who was staring at her with wide eyes, "Um… and I have a touch of clairvoyance, and I've moved a few pencils around a desk." She blushed and looked back at her toes, "That's it."

"Y-yeah." Nightwing had a distinct red ting to his cheeks as well, as if he'd just remembered he was interrogating a stripper. "So… you saw Jinx's attack then?"

"I saw the whole thing. I tried to tell her, but she just kept telling me the future is fluid and that it can be changed… she's wrong… my visions always come true." Lilith closed her eyes, "Always."

"How did your vision end?" Nightwing asked.

"When that bastard put the gun to her head and…" she trailed off, "But… he didn't… he pointed it at me because she wouldn't respond to his abuse. She…" the red haired girl opened her eyes and looked over at the Titans with surprise, "She changed the vision!"

Seraph spoke up, "Strong emotions, great willpower, and powerful feelings of hope can redirect the flow of time. It _is_ fluid, but it takes a powerful person to change it. You're lucky you had Jinx… she's the most stubborn person in the world, other than Cyborg."

Nightwing cracked a smile, "I'd give Batman ten to one odds against those two any day of the week." He stood up, "Lilith, there's no need to keep you in this examination room tonight. I can have someone take you home, or you can crash in one of our guest rooms if you'd like."

"Can I really sleep here? Oh, that'd be awesome." Lilith stood up from the bed and bent down immediately; hugging Seraph, "Thank you for healing me. I'm glad it was you… I'm sure Raven is great and all, but you're just so darn cute!"

Nightwing laughed out loud, "So much for striking fear into the hearts of criminals, huh Seraph?"

She stomped her foot, "Nightwing!"

Lilith laughed too and stood up, "So… where am I sleeping?"

"Seraph will show you. I have to check on Jinx, then file reports… my job wont be over for a few hours yet."

A dark voice echoed from the doorway, "Your job is over for the night." They all looked over to see the dark form of Raven standing there, looking exhausted and stiff, "Seraph, I need you to finish what you can for Jinx, then go to bed. I'll take Lilith to a room, and have Terra send Wonder Girl on her way." She turned her violet gaze on Nightwing, "_You_ go get Changeling and tell him it's okay to come see his girlfriend now, then go to bed. If I catch you filing reports before you've had a good nights sleep, I'm going to send you to the eight pit of Hell."

The three of them stared at her for a moment, then Nightwing sighed and nodded. As he ushered the other two out of the room, he muttered, "Man… I thought _I_ was the leader…"

* * *

"Jenny?" Seraph peeked her head into Jinx's room and looked about, "You awake?"

"I'm a ton better than when Jason dragged me in." Jinx replied from where she lay on the bed, "Come on in. Raven said you were going to finish me up."

"Yeah. What do I have left?" Seraph walked in and sat down on the stool next to the bed.

"Just the cut on my face, a split lip, some bruising, some emotional scarring, some horrible memories, and… oh yeah, I'm still missing a few molars." Jinx sounded a little bitter.

"I'm sorry, Jenny." Seraph reached out and grabbed the older girls hand, "No one should have to go through what you did, even if you did it to save Lilith."

Jinx shook her head, "Sorry to dump my anger on you like that." She sat up and turned to Seraph, "Let's just finish up so I can sleep it off."

As Seraph went to work with glowing white hands, Jinx let her mind wander, and spoke out loud, "I wonder if Gar will think any less of me… after what I did."

"_You_ didn't do anything." Seraph responded in a firm tone.

"Oh, Kylee… I could have held out longer… I was weak, and I gave in. I let him see that he could use Lilith against me, and then I had to… well, you'll learn about what I had to do when you get a little older."

"I had sex-ed in school three years ago, Jen."

"Did they teach you about oral sex in sex-ed?"

Seraph stopped her healing and looked up at Jenny in horror, "He made you suck him off? Oh, Jenny! _Ew_! Ew, ew, _ew_!"

Jinx stared for a moment, then burst out laughing, "Holy… shit, Kylee, that was funny. If Raven ever heard you say the words 'suck him off,' she'd implode!"

"How can you _laugh_ about this?"

"What else can I do? Wallow in self-pity forever? I'm over it. End of story." Jinx shook her head, "Sure, what I had to do was disgusting and a horrible violation of my body… well, my mouth anyway, but at least he didn't stick it somewhere _important_…"

Seraph stared for a moment, then looked away, "You're so strong, Jenny."

"I'm not." Jinx reached out and hugged the younger girl, "I'm just as weak as any of the rest of us… I just know how to laugh more."

"I would have shot him in the balls too."

"No you wouldn't have." Jinx squeezed her with a grin, "You wouldn't have been able to aim the gun properly."

Seraph giggled.

* * *

Wonder Girl looked up at Terra as they walked to the roof of the Tower and started to ask a question, then stopped. She looked down at her sneakers, then back over to Terra. She opened her mouth again, stopped, and looked away again.

Terra grabbed her by the scruff of her jacket and shook her to a stop, "Will you just spit out whatever the hell it is you're trying to ask? You're driving me nuts!"

Wonder Girl looked a little dizzy when she was let go, but smiled sheepishly anyway, "Sorry. I was just wondering… if you think I'll make a good Titan."

"I think you'll be a great Titan. You have the best one of us to learn with."

"Really? Who?"

"Seraph." Terra looked down at Wonder Girl and saw an arched eyebrow, "What? You don't believe me?"

"Well, I think you or Raven might be a tad more powerful, Nightwing might be a bit better prepared and experienced… heck, I'm more experienced than Kylee."

"Oh, I think you'll be surprised." Terra motioned with one hand and they continued walking, "Kylee has determination and willpower is spades, and she's really a natural at all of this. I think she's going to surpass all of us someday."

"Really?" Wonder Girl still looked skeptical.

"Really. If you talk to any of the old guard… you know, the guys up in the Watch Tower? They'll all tell you it's always been about us kids surpassing them. Everything we've done with the Titans, and the real reason they all have sidekicks in the first place is so that we'll become better and stronger than they are. So that we'll grow up to be the next generation of crime fighters and heroes that will be able to take on the stronger and more dangerous threats of the future."

"Wow… I should talk to Wonder Woman about this…"

"You should… talk to her as much as you can, actually. Nightwing cut himself off from Batman so much that he had to 'die' to really see what he was doing wrong. Arsenal hasn't spoken to Green Arrow in a year, and Changeling doesn't see much of the Doom Patrol anymore… and it hurts them, WG. You can't deny where you come from."

"Who was your mentor?"

"A terrorist and assassin by the name of Slade Wilson. He's called Deathstroke."

"Are you serious?"

"Yep. I don't talk to him much these days either."

"So… have you ever… killed anyone?"

Terra looked away, "Once. And it was as a Titan too… I just… well, never mind about that. It was a mistake. One I'll never forgive myself for. All I can do is continue fighting for the good guys."

"I… see." Wonder Girl grabbed Terra's hand, "Well, I still think you're awesome."

"Really?" Terra looked down at her with a grin, "Thanks kid." She stopped and pushed a button next to a door at the end of the hall they were in. As the door swooshed open, it revealed a staircase leading up to another door, "Roof's right up here. Let's get you home."

"I can fly home on my own, you know."

"Nightwing's orders. I fly you all the way there, and make sure you get in okay before coming back."

"Fine…" Wonder Girl looked mutinous, "You'll just have to keep up."

"I'll just have to clock you with another building if you get to far ahead of me." Terra grinned.

"You're such a brat."

"Ditto, kid. Ditto."

* * *

Lilith looked around the room Raven had led her to and arched an eyebrow, "Nice digs."

Raven nodded from behind her, "The Tower is very well furnished. We certienly spent enough money to do it properly."

"Heh." The tall red head stepped over to the bed and sat down, "You know, it's nice hanging out with you Raven."

The dark Titan arched an eyebrow from inside her hood, "Why is that?"

"Well, most of the time, when I'm with other people, I hear a kind of thought buzz… some times I can make it out, others I can't. With you though… it's just silence. I can't hear a thing."

"I have a better trained mind that most people. I block out your pyscic intrusions. Unintentional as they are."

"Is it… rude to intrude?"

"Very." Raven smiled lightly, "You just don't know how to shut it off."

"Could you teach me?" Lilith looked excited, "Oh, if I could just turn off my powers… that'd be great!"

Raven stared at her very seriously, "Lilith… your powers aren't something to be ashamed of. And they're not something you can just turn off and forget about."

"Says you. I wish I didn't have these abilities… they're distracting, and they freak me out."

"If I teach you to control them… will you rethink that statement?" Raven reached up and lowered her hood.

"What?" Lilith looked confused, "What are you talking about?"

"If I teach you how to use your powers," Raven glared in an intense manner, "Would you think about using them for the good of others? Would you think about joining the Titans?"

Lilith let her jaw drop, then scooted back on the bed, "Me? A Titan? Raven I could barely take having my arm twisted tonight… if I'd taken the kind of beating Jinx did… I'd have died."

"She's been trained to take that kind of abuse. You haven't. But you could be."

"I don't want to be!"

"I'll teach you to use your powers, Lilith." Raven drew her hood back up, "We'll speak about it more in the morning. Get some sleep." With that, Raven vanished into the shadows and the door slid shut. Lilith sat still on the bed for several minutes then looked out the window at the moon. She breathed out one word.

"Titans…"

* * *

Jinx looked up from the bathroom sink in the suite she shared with Changeling as the door to the bedroom opened up. She stepped back and looked out at her boyfriend as he stepped in, "Hey you!"

"Jenny!" Changeling dashed across the room and grabbed her in his arms, hugging her tightly, "Oh, God! I'm so glad to see you… Raven said you were pretty bad, but it looks like they healed you up okay… you are okay, right?"

"Gar, I'm fine. I just need to do two things before I go to bed tonight."

"Really?" he let her go and looked worried, "Can I help?"

"I sure hope so." Jinx grinned, "I really need to get a terrible memory of having to suck a dick I didn't want to suck out of my head… so I'd like to suck a dick that I do want to suck. Then I want to take a shower… a long, hot shower, where I can have my boyfriend fuck me until I can't remember anything about tonight."

Changeling blinked, and then nodded, "Okay. I'll see what I can do." And he crushed him mouth to hers. She reached down and started to pull off his costume as he shoved the robe she was wearing off of her shoulders and to the floor.

* * *

Raven slipped under the covers of her bed and lay down softly next to the still form of Arsenal. After a moment, he stirred and rolled over, slinging an arm across her waist, "Hey." He muttered.

"Hi." Raven sounded meek, "Jason… we need to talk."

"About what?"

"Why you're in love with Jenny."

"What?" Arsenal sat up a little and blinked down at her with sleep-blurred eyes, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You… you want her. I sensed it tonight… it's why I sent you out of the room when I was working on her." Raven blinked back tears and shoved his arm off of her, "You… how could you?"

"Raven…" Arsenal sat up and rubbed his eyes, "Look, I like Jen. She's a great friend, and yeah, maybe the outfit she was wearing tonight, and all the time I've been spending with her lately have made me want to… well, anyway. I know you don't have selective empathy. You can sense what I'm feeling for you too, right?"

"Of course I can… and I'm jealous." Raven looked away, "My personality matrix is having a field day right now."

"Why are you jealous?"

"Because… you want her the same way you want me… yes, I know you love me in a romantic sense, and her in a friendly kind of way, but still… and I'm jealous because… well… I saw her first." Raven looked away and pouted.

"Oh, that's right…" Arsenal rolled his eyes, "You actually _have_ slept with her…"

"Oh… shut up. Fine. I'm over reacting."

"You are. Now will you let me prove to you that not only are you the only girl for me, but that I'm way better in the sack than Jenny is?"

"I don't know…" Raven looked back over at him with a sly glance, "She's pretty good at going down on a girl…"

"Oh yeah?" Arsenal winked, "We'll see if she can hold a candle to me then." And he ducked under the covers. Raven giggled as he moved around for a moment, then gasped. As she clutched at the sheets, she stared up at the ceiling with wide eyes, "Wow…"

* * *

Cyborg stepped into the communication hub of Titans Tower and smiled down at the form of Sarah where she slumbered on the keyboard. A slight whirling noise caught his attention and he looked to the left. A camera was zooming in on the sleeping girl's head, where she was drooling on the keyboard.

Cy walked over to a terminal and sat down, where he pulled up a chair and a keyboard. He typed quickly to an open com screen;

_'Blackmail material, Oracle?'_

_'You have no true comprehension of how funny this is.'_

_'Sure I do. Canary mailed us the pictures of you doing the same thing two weeks ago.'_

_'She sent you that? Oh, I'm gonna kill Dinah!'_

_'Only if you can catch her.'_

_'You're forgetting Victor… I can see everywhere.'_

_'…'_

_'I know the joke about not being able to run after her would be in bad taste, Vic, so I'll make it instead of you.'_

_'You know I don't think any less of you for your disability.'_

_'How could you? You had your accident to overcome, and I have mine. I'm dealing just fine.'_

_'I hear that.'_

_'Yeah. I hear Jinx got kind of messed up tonight.'_

_'A little. The girls fixed her up, but it was pretty bad. She's a fighter though, she'll bounce back.'_

_'Cool. Where did Blackfire get off to?'_

_'No idea. Why?'_

_'Her language on the com is deplorable. I was going to reprimand her.'_

_'LOL.'_

_'Hey, take Sarah to bed. She had a long night on the keyboard, then she had to prep a medical bay for wounded.'_

_'Sure thing. Stay safe.'_

_'You too. Goodnight, Victor.'_

_'Night O.'_

Cyborg shut down the com window, then turned to his girlfriend. With a small smile, he gently scooped her up and let her snuggle into his neck as he carried her to her room.

* * *

Starfire left Nightwing snoring lightly in their room and floated through the halls to the nearest open window. From there it was a short flight to the rooftop, and then a quick search to spot the dark form of her sister lying on her back staring up at the stars. The red haired Tamaranian quickly flew down to join the black haired one.

As her sister reclined next to her, Blackfire spoke, "It's amazing… even with the city lights so close and all the light the Tower gives off, you can still see the stars so well from here."

"I have always enjoyed watching the stars from this vantage." Starfire pointed up and Blackfire followed the direction her finger was going, "That is home."

"Really? I've never bothered to find out."

"Why not?"

"Well, someone banished me, so I can't go back anyway, even if I wanted to."

"And you do not want to?"

"No. Not at all. What's there for me?"

"Ryand'r is still there… he would be twelve seasons old by now."

"And Galfor. Can't forget that big lug."

"And… Komand'r, it is home! Why would you not wish to see the beauty of our homeworld once more?"

"There's nothing left for me there, Kori. I'm just… I'm having an Earthling's kid, and I'm adapting so well here… I think a quite lift in the Tower here is good for me… just raising my child and helping you guys fight bad guys from the other side of a com link. It's the most complete and fulfilling life I can dream of."

"So you do not wish to fight once again?"

"Maybe some day. When the baby is able to stand on it's own… at least until he molts his third layer of skin." Blackfire winced, "If he molts. We don't really know what kind of hybrid of our two races he'll be."

"Have you spoken with Red-X any more about these things?"

"Brian has been very understanding. He knows this child will be far beyond anything he's prepared for. He does have a strange obsession with teaching the kid to throw around a ball and catch it with some kind of strange glove. Said his father taught him."

Starfire smiled, "It is called baseball. It is the national pastime of the United States."

"Pff. It sounds boring. I'd much rather teach the child the Kal'zrat Myl. At least that game has some explosions."

"You are silly, Sister."

"You love Kal'zrat Myl. You even won sometimes."

"You let me win."

"Only a few times. And only because I felt sorry for you. But you did win a few on your own."

"Your backhand is sloppy. It is not so hard to find your openings."

Blackfire shook her head and grinned, "Heh. Listen to us… like we never hated each other." She stretched her arms over her head as the silence stretched between them. After a few minutes, Starfire spoke again,

"I never hated you, Komi."

Blackfire was silent again for several moments, then replied, "I know. I just wish I could say the same."

"But… now…"

"I'm a lot like Brian and Tara, really… a bad guy gone good that has to make up for her mistakes… I'm just lucky to have a sister to keep me on the straight and narrow."

Star rolled to her side and used one arm to pull her sister close, "Now and forever, Sister. Now and forever."

* * *

An hour later, the two Princesses went to bed, and Terra arrived back at the Tower a few minutes after that. She too retired to her chambers, setting the codes on the security matrix before she did. As the system came up on full alert, the Tower went dark. Terra fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

It was five minutes later when Nightwing woke up.

In ten minutes after that he was in his computer lab filing reports in his boxers and a robe.

Only seven minutes later, Arsenal was walking in, dressed in only a pair of gray sleep sweats. The red haired archer stopped behind Nightwing's chair and looked up at the screen. He read the words of his friends log and frowned.

"Kind of harsh don't you think, Dick? 'The Titans don't seem to be able to handle what this city can throw at us now on our own. Options for improvement are needed.'"

"It's true." Nightwing wasn't wearing his mask, but his voice rumbled with a hint of the Batman, "We were only away for five months before we got back into the game, but the things that took root while we were gone… Roy I don't see how we're going to be able to dig out these weeds on our own."

"You want to call the League?"

Nightwing shook his head, "I don't think that's an option. No, we're just spread too thin. We need… more Titans."

"Well, we're up one now that Wonder Girl has joined up, and Raven says she may be recruiting Lilith." Arsenal raised his hands in a defensive manner when Nightwing turned a depreciating glare on him, "I'm not saying she wont need to be trained from the ground up, but the girl has some power. Power we could use right now."

"Fine… I'll leave her to Raven then. Now what are our other options?"

"Well… we could always hold a world wide recruitment, by placing an ad on TV and then having a massive week long screening process." Arsenal blinked at a file off to the side of the big screen Nightwing was working on that was named 'Post'. "What's that file?" he pointed.

"Never mind that. I don't think we have the resources to carry out that plan. But a recruitment sweep does sound good."

"What about… some of us hit the road and try to find some new members?"

"How about all the combatant Titans hit the road, and we don't come back _until_ we have new members?"

Arsenal laughed and started to shake his head, but stopped. After a few moments of thinking her nodded, "Yeah… yeah, Dick! That's great!"

"Then we'll do it. I'll announce it tomorrow over breakfast."

"Sweet."

Nightwing turned back to his screen and saved his work. He hit the button to turn off the screen, then stood up, "Let's get some sleep, Roy. I've got a feeling you'll be taking a bit of a trip soon."

"I was thinking of going to see Ollie. See if he has any tips on how to recruit."

Nightwing paused, then shook his head, "I'm sure he'll have something in mind."

Arsenal arched an eyebrow as he followed the Titan leader out of the computer room, "What the hell does that mean?" When no reply came, he frowned and dashed after his friend, "Hey! Dick! What does that mean?"

* * *

Closing Notes: Nothing. I have nothing further to say.

Next Time: The Titans scatter to the four winds as they search out more young heroes to add to their numbers. Back at the Tower, Sarah and Blackfire are left in charge of three thirteen-year-old super teens with far too much spunk for their own good.


	6. Kids

Jump City Symphony

A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonald

Opening Notes – It's been… six months? Something like that. I've been suffering severe writers block on every project I have going right now, including any and all original fiction. Hopefully, it'll clear up by the time the new semester starts so I wont be struggling through term papers again. See the closing notes for info on my New Plan to make this story update faster. I need help, and you kids are gonna help me!

Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Teen Titans.

* * *

_**Kids**_

* * *

Two dark forms stood in the garage of Titans Tower, both with eye masks that blocked their blue eyes. Both with gadgets lined on their utility belts, and both with black hair.

They could have been brothers.

"I don't know if I can do this." The shorter one said.

"Don't worry, bro. You'll do fine."

"I'm still really new to this, Dick. What if-"

"They'll listen to you, Timmy. Don't sweat it."

"I just don't see why it has to be me."

"Because," Nightwing pulled a helmet on and saddled up on his sleek black motorcycle, "Robin is the leader of the Teen Titans. That's the way it should be."

"But what if-"

"Komi and Sarah are still here to be adult voices of reason, and I'm only a com call away. I had to brow beat Bruce into letting me take you away for this gig for almost a week, so the least you can do is meet and work with the rest of the Teen Titans for a little while."

"Okay… okay. I'm ready."

"Just don't show signs of weakness, and stay confident at all times. Trust me, Tim, you're the best trained of any of them."

"Right." Robin picked up his duffle bag and turned towards the elevator, "Stay safe while you're out there."  
"That's really not my job." Nightwing grinned back at him, and started the bike, "Have fun, Tim." They both waved as the older Titan drove out of the garage. Robin sighed once and walked over to the elevator. Hitting the up button, he put on his game face.

* * *

Blackfire was rubbing her temples. Nightwing, the last of the Titans to leave the Tower, had only been gone for twenty minutes, and already she had a headache. "Bart!" she yelled, "Will you please give Cassie back her tweezers!"

"No!" the speedster zipped across the room, away from the flying Wonder Girl and stuck out his tongue, "She'll attack me with them again!"

Wonder Girl scowled, "Your eyebrows look all funny! Just let me fix them!"

"You can't even see 'em under my mask!"

The blonde girl scowled, "Then wear your mask! I'm sick of looking at your funny face!"

"You've only lived here for four days!" Impulse shouted, "You can't be sick of me yet!"

Suddenly, strong hands clamped down on his shoulders and yanked him off the ground. Blackfire growled at him from where she held him, floating in midair, "I only knew you for a half hour before I was sick of you! Now give those back!"

Impulse vibrated out of her grip and zipped away again, "No!"

"Sonofa…" violet energy surged around her form and the Tameranian princess let loose a blast that blew part of the kitchen counter off. Bart dodged it and zipped over in front of the elevator that led up to the residential floors.

The doors opened behind him and Seraph lunged out, tackling him to the floor, "Gottcha! Gimme those tweezers!"

"No! You girls are all ganging up on me! There needs to be another guy here!"

Across the room, the doors opened up to the elevator that led down to the garage and a young man in a familiar looking red, yellow, green and black outfit stepped off. He carried a duffle bag emblazoned with an 'R' logo, and his eye mask arched up on one side as he observed the room.

Seraph was holding Impulse down on the floor while Wonder Girl and Blackfire hovered above them, both ready to strike at a moments notice. They were all staring at him with wide eyes.

"Um…" Wonder Girl touched down on the floor lightly, "Who are you?"

The young man shifted his depthless gaze to her and said in a voice that seemed kind of out of place on someone so young, "I'm Robin."

"Really?" she arched an eyebrow.

"Really." He turned a glare on the rest of the Titans in the room, "And I'm wondering what my team is doing wrestling around on the ground when they should be training."

"_Your_ team?" Impulse was suddenly up off the floor and right up in Robin's face, "Who put you in charge?"

"Nightwing." Robin didn't even miss a beat, "Robin leads the Teen Titans. That's how it's always been."

"And what qualifies you to be the team leader?" Seraph asked as she got up off the floor. She had a small frown on her face.

"Better training in tactics and strategies. More discipline. And I've been working cases with Batman for months."

"So?" Wonder Girl flipped her hair and crossed her arms, "I've been working with Wonder Woman for over a year!"

"And I've been trained to be a hero my whole life!" Impulse stuck out his tongue.

"And look at all the good it's done you." Robin deadpanned. The two other protégés dropped their jaws and stared at the insult as Robin swept past them, his cape trailing behind him. He stopped next to the final Teen Titan, "Seraph, right? I'll need you to show me to my room, then get geared up and meet me in the training hall. Nightwing tells me that the two of us have some combat training to do."

"Um… okay." Seraph glanced at her other two teammates, "Just… maybe you shouldn't be so mean to them… we're a team, aren't we?"

"Only if we choose to act like one." Robin replied. He motioned to the elevator and stepped past her.

Seraph glanced back at her friends, then hurried after Robin.

As soon as the doors shut, Wonder Girl burst out, "What an ass!"

Blackfire landed next to her, "He's not so bad once you get to know him. Batman's just had a bad influence on his attitude."

"No way did Nightwing leave him in charge." Impulse grumbled, "That's just… just…"

"True?" Blackfire shook her head, "Technically, Sarah and I will be in charge. But the Teen Titans do need a leader, and he is the best trained. I'd say you should listen to him while he's here."

"You can't be serious." Wonder Girl rolled her eyes, "He's nothing but a jerk."

"So was Dick when he was that age." Blackfire shrugged, "Maybe it's a Bat-Thing. Whatever it is, you'd better get used to it."

As she floated towards the kitchen (Wonder Girl's tweezers firmly in hand) the two younger Titans' eyes met. A silent message passed between them; Robin was going down a few notches.

* * *

Seraph glanced over at Robin in the elevator and fidgeted a little. The silence and the way he was ignoring her presence was getting to her. She decided to just jump in head first.

Turning towards him, she stuck out a hand, "Um… I'm Kylee. Kylee Rodgers. I just wanted to formally introduce myself."

The young man next to her turned as well and briefly made eye contact while he shook her hand, "Nice to meet you."

As he turned away and faced forward once again, Seraph frowned, "Um… aren't you going to… you know…"

"Reveal my secret identity like you just did?" Robin snorted lightly, "It wouldn't be very secret then would it?"

"I already know your name is Tim."

"Forget it then. When I'm out here on the west coast, my name is Robin."

"Do you really think remaining that impersonal is going to help you at all with the others?"

"I don't really care. We work together. That's it."

"But… we should be friends! The Titans are more than just a super hero team! They're a family… even Nightwing admits to that!"

"Most of the Titans don't have any other family to back to." Robin still didn't look at her, "I do."

"Who? Batman?"

"No, Seraph. My father is still alive. As is Wonder Girl's mother. Not all of us are orphans." He turned a cool glare on her, "Not all of us need a surrogate family."

Seraph's eyes hardened and he lower lip quivered a little. As her eyes started to tear up, she spoke very softly, "I really want to be friends with you, Robin, so I hope you'll be able to forgive me."

"For what?" Robin arched an eyebrow.

"This." And she belted him across the jaw as hard as she could. As fate would have it, the elevator had just stopped and the doors had just opened. Robin tumbled to the side, out of the lift and onto the floor of the hallway.

Right at Sarah's feet.

"Um…" the blonde girl looked up and her eyes grew wide as Seraph lunged out of the elevator and landed hard on Robin, who was still slightly dazed from the blow. She grabbed his uniform front and yanked his shoulders up off the ground, growling down at him as her tears dripped from her eyes onto his face.

"You… you don't ever get to speak about my parents with such disrespect ever again! And you don't get to speak ill of my friends either! And you defiantly don't get to be such a calloused ass to anyone in this Tower!" she shook him and Robin almost managed to stutter something out before she cut him off, "Shut up and listen! You may be Batman's new partner, and you may have better training and more experience, but if you can't get past your own selfish needs and your stupid, stuck-up attitude, then the Titans don't need you! Do you understand _THAT_, Robin? _We don't need you!"_

Sarah had backed away a few steps and just stood and watched with wide eyes. Robin stared up at Seraph and blinked a few times behind his mask. It was then that he realized that when she'd jumped on him, he'd put his hands on her waist and hip to keep her from fully pinning him, and that their faces were only a few inches apart. Her hair was tickling his cheeks and she smelled like lavender and fabric softener.

"Um…" his cheeks flared red, "Could you… get off of me? I mean… we're only thirteen and I'm a guy and this is… you're… um…"

Seraph suddenly blushed as well and quickly stood up off of him. Robin slowly stood up as well, closing his cape in front of him. She noticed her eyes trailing down below his waist before it fully closed and let out a little strangled noise at what his tight pants had revealed. She turned away, "Sorry! Oh… shit! I'm so sorry!"

"Not a big deal." Robin turned away as well, "Just a… natural reaction. And… I'm sorry. For being such an ass."

"Yeah… um… just don't do it again." Seraph glanced over her shoulder at him, "Um… I can show you to your room…"

Sarah suddenly jumped up in-between them, grinning like a fool, "As long as he doesn't invite you in!" she laughed, then ran to the elevator before either Titan could make a grab for her. She continued to laugh as she hit the button for the common area, "Wait 'till I tell Komi about this one!"

"Ga!" Robin lunged at her, "No! Don't tell Blackfire! She'll-" But the doors had already closed and Sarah's laughter was fading away. Robin hung his head, "She's going to tell Oracle, and Oracle will tell Black Canary, and Black Canary will tell someone in the JSA, then it'll make it's way to the JLA, and then to Batman. And I'll have twelve hours of 'disciplinary training' to do when I get back to Gotham."

Seraph had her hands covering her mouth, "I'm soooo sorry!"

Robin sighed again and waved a hand, picking up his bag, "Don't worry about it. I'm honestly more worried about what Raven is going to do when she finds out."

"Aw… crap. I'm kind of worried about what Bart is going to do."

"Impulse?" Robin arched an eyebrow, "Why?"

Seraph blushed even deeper, "Oh… he and I are… we have a little… thing."

Robin arched a corner of his mask, "A thing?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Seraph turned around and walked down the hall quickly, "Your room is this way!"

Shaking his head, Robin followed.

* * *

"You're sure this is going to work?" Wonder Girl looked a little concerned as Impulse filled the water balloon with cooking oil.

"Positive. Gar told me this prank always works." He tied off the balloon rapidly, then set it aside and grabbed another. Seven empty bottles of oil at his feet became eight as he finished filling the twentieth one.

"Um, call me crazy for wondering this, but Changeling is kind of an idiot. Do you really think that his definition of 'always working' is worth even considering?"

"Of course!" Impulse zipped away, and was back four seconds latter with a long, bright red rubber band. "Now help me find something to set up the triggering mechanism!"

Wonder Girl sighed, "Alright. But if this goes wrong, it's all on you."

* * *

Seraph walked into the gym as she was finishing pulling on her right glove. She looked up to see Robin twirling a bo staff and thrusting it in stabbing motions.

"What do you know about staff fighting?" he asked as he spun his weapon to a stop and turned to her.

"Not much, really." Seraph shrugged, "Dick and I usually only do hand to hand. He did teach me the basics of how to use my dagger, but I doubt I'll ever need it."

"And why is that?" Robin motioned her over to the sparring mats, and she followed him.

"Any situation I can't fight my way out of with my hands, I should be able to fly out of. If I can't fly away, I know a few spells that will protect me."

"While it's good to have a wide range of tactics to keep your opponents off balance, it's better to be an expert at all of them so that you have the option to pick and choose which ones are going to be the best to use in any given situation." Robin held up his staff, "Draw your dagger." She did so with a frown.

"I don't know if we should be practicing with these kinds of weapons, Robin. It seems danger-"

"Defend yourself!" he shouted, and lunged at her. Seraph's eyes grew wide and she ducked the staff as it whistled above her head. He wasn't playing around.

With a firm set about her features, she lashed out with a low kick, trying to sweep his feet. Robin planted his staff on the mats and vaulted over her, coming back in close and hard with another swing. Seraph caught it on her dagger with a metallic clink, but the force of the blow still jarred her arms and sent her sprawling.

"Up. Again." Robin ordered.

Seraph quickly scrambled to her feet, and brandished her dagger, "What the hell are you doing? We're practicing, not trying to kill each other!"

"Do you think an opponent you meet out there on the street is going to cut you any slack?" he jabbed at her, and Seraph jerked her head to the side to avoid having an eye put out, "Fight, Seraph! Or back down and give back that communicator!"

He jabbed again, and Seraph dodged to the side, then came back in fast and to the left. Robin swung his staff around and aimed a hard blow for her left side. His eyes grew wide as she didn't even try to dodge the blow and took it hard in the ribs. There was a sharp crack, and he knew he'd just broken a bone.

Wincing and trying not to scream even as tears pooled in her eyes, Seraph grabbed the staff and yanked Robin forward. He stumbled, not expecting the move, and she had her dagger across his throat in a matter of seconds. Their faces were inches apart for the second time in and hour, "Don't ever challenge me like that. I don't back down." The young girl's tears did nothing to dispel the firm resolve in her voice, "Not ever."

Robin blinked then a soft smile split across his face, "I don't know what Dick was talking about. You're better than he gives you credit for."

Seraph let go of his staff and backed away. She closed her own eyes and concentrated. After a moment, a healing aura surrounded her, "I'm healing my cracked rib. I'll do the cut on your neck next."

He touched his neck and saw that his glove did indeed come away tainted with blood, "Hmm. Thanks."

"Not a problem… you know, they all underestimate us. They don't think we can do the job yet."

Robin nodded, "I haven't been allowed to operate independently of Batman since the first night I started. He's always with me, even for minor things."

Seraph opened her eyes and held out a hand to his neck. As she healed him, she replied, "It was like pulling teeth to get Raven to let me go out. Then after the first night and all the trouble that went down, everyone started treating me with kid gloves. They even treat Cassie… sorry, Wonder Girl, like she's made of bone china." Lowering her hand and inspecting her work to make sure there would be no scaring, she scoffed, "I mean, the girl can get thrown through buildings and still get up and fight. And Impulse can get away from anything, so there's no real need to worry about him, and I'm capable of taking care of myself, even if most of what I do is hang back and heal…"

Robin chuckled, "Sounds like this whole thing with them leaving us by ourselves is going to be just the opportunity we need to prove we can do the job."

"Yeah," Seraph roller her eyes again, "If Blackfire even lets us go out…"

"Really?" Robin grinned a grin that made her think he may be far more kid and far less hard core crime fighter than he seemed, "I'd like to see her try and stop us."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Seraph and Robin were walking down the hall that led to the garage on the main floor. Seraph was gushing excitedly, "You really mean it? You're only what? Fourteen? Thirteen? You have your own bike?"

"Batman thought it was best to get me trained on the vehicles as soon as possible. The motorcycle just fits my needs better." Robin grinned, "Though it is a pretty sweet bike."

"Awesome! You have got to take me out for a spin! Is it anything like Nightwing's bike?"

"Well, I'm guessing he's made some mods that Batman doesn't know about, so-"

"Hey! Birdbrain!" came Impulse's voice from up ahead of them, "Welcome to the Titans!"

Both Robin and Seraph looked up with wide eyes as twenty odd balloons full of cooking oil flew down the hall way with incredible velocity. Robin jerked out his staff and Seraph pulled her dagger but it was too late to use them. Cooking oil splattered everywhere as the two of them shut their eyes and tried to dodge.

Both of them slipped a moment after the balloons hit and fell to the floor. Laughter echoed down the hall at them and Impulse came into view a moment later, standing behind his sling shot, busting a gut. "You should have seen your face! Oil all over you! Ha!"

"Um… Bart?" Wonder Girl floated behind him, "You hit Kylee too…"

"Huh?" the speedster looked down and saw a scowling Seraph pulling herself to her feet, "Oh… crap."

"Oh crap is right, Zippy." Kylee slipped again but used the wall to support herself as Robin tried to find his feet next to her, "When I catch you… and I will catch you, Bart… you're going to find out just how many pressure points Nightwing has taught me how to punch."

Impulse looked frightened as he took a step back, but the alarms started blaring a moment later and the lights started flashing. Two seconds later, all of their coms buzzed and they pulled them out. Flipping them open, they saw Blackfire with a frown on her face, _"Titans, trouble."_ She said, _"Get up to the briefing room."_

* * *

"What the hell happened to the two of you?" the dark haired alien asked with an arched eyebrow as the the Teen Titans trooped into the briefing room.

"Impulse happened." Robin growled.

"Ah. I see." Blackfire turned her violet gaze on the speedster and he shrank back.

"Sorry."

"Whatever." She waved it off, "Listen up. There's been an explosion at an archeological dig site just outside of city limits. It's a little ways into the desert, but that shouldn't be a problem. We have no reason to expect foul play at this point, but I want the four of you down there just in case. This is an easy one to break you kids in." she turned to them and eyed them critically, "If anything goes wrong, get out of there and we'll beacon the JLA. Don't be stupid and try to take on something you can't."

"We'll be fine." Robin said, "Um… as soon as we change clothes."

"You do that. Five minutes." Blackfire grinned, "Move out."

* * *

Fresh uniforms in place, Seraph and Robin joined Impulse and Wonder Girl on the ground floor, just outside the garage. Robin wheeled out his bike, and Seraph walked a few steps behind him with a helmet in her hands.

"You two riding together?" Wonder Girl asked, pulling her goggles down over her eyes.

"I can't fly as fast as you, so Robin's bike is the next best way." Seraph replied, "Oh, and Bart?"

"Yeah?" he was next to her in a half second.

Seraph punched him in the arm.

"Owww…" he whined.

"Try not to do anything stupid, okay?" she grinned at him.

"Hey, I'm a super hero. We don't do stupid stuff."

"So what was with the oil back there?"

"That was-"

"Enough." Robin ordered, "We're wasting time. This could be serious."

"I agree." Wonder Girl floated up into the air. "Imp, you'll make it there before the rest of us, so you should scout a little bit to see what's up and report what you find before I get there."

"Who died and made you leader?" the speedster scowled up at her.

"No one did." Robin cut off another argument, "I'm the leader, because Nightwing said so, and he's the leader normally. And I agree with Wonder Girl's plan. Let's get moving."

He swung a leg over his motorcycle and stuffed his helmet on his head. Seraph patted Impulse on the arm, then jumped on behind him, pulling her own helmet on. As Wonder Girl took to the skies, and Robin revved the bike, Impulse scowled one more time, then took off in a Flash.

* * *

Robin and Seraph were halfway there, with Wonder Girl flying slightly ahead of them when Impulse's call came, _"Hey Titans! Time for Radio Impulse!"_

"What have you got?" Robin asked, trying to sound professional and non-threatening at the same time.

Impulse seemed to have already forgotten his anger from just minutes before, _"The site seems okay, no one's hurt really, except for the dig leader. She was in the hole when the explosion went off, and she's still down there."_

"Is she okay?" Seraph asked over the com in her helmet.

_"Dunno. There's all this smoke and stuff." _

"Can you disperse it and get a visual?" Robin asked.

_"I don't think I should try. The smoke is purple." _

"Purple?"

_"Yeah. Bright, neon, Raven's eyes kind of purple."_ Impulse grinned stupidly over the video connection.

Wonder Girl joined the com call a moment later, _"So, why have you been studying Raven's eye color so closely, Imp?"_

Impulse blushed suddenly, and Seraph scowled over Robin's shoulder at the small video display on the bike, "Yeah, Bart, why have you been staring at Raven's eyes so much?"

_"Uh…"_

"Stop teasing, girls." Robin grinned as well, "Everyone notices Raven's eyes."

_"What color are your eyes, Boy Wonder?"_ Wonder Girl batted her own baby blues.

"Trade secret. Oh look, we're here." Robin slowed to a stop several yards from the dig and removed his helmet. "Let's move, team."

* * *

A few minutes later found the Teen Titans staring down into a hole in the ground that the dig team had been excavating for the past six months. Robin was talking to one of the archeologists and taking notes, "So, Miss Murphy, you say Dr. Nina Dowd had just uncovered some kind of artifact, when she touched it and it exploded?"

"Yeah." The young woman responded, "We're not sure what it was, but that smoke seems to be sitting there and not dissipating. That artifact could have been anything."

Wonder Girl nodded, "It could have been magical. That would explain the overall weirdness of this whole mess."

Seraph shook her head, "I don't sense any magic from in there. I think this might be something that's been on the planet for a long time, but isn't really from here."

"Like, alien tech?" Robin arched an eyebrow.

"It's not unheard of." Seraph shrugged.

"Which aliens?" Impulse was next to them a moment later, "I know most of the species that arrived on Earth before humans made contact with them."

"How?" Murphy asked.

"I'm from the 31st Century." Impulse replied as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Oh…um, okay…" Murphy edged away from the squad of super kids.

"Right. Let's get started. We need to find out what's up with this smoke."

"I guess I could just run thorough and take a look-see." Impulse turned to the hole.

"I don't think that's-" Robin started to say, but Impulse was already gone. A second later, he was on the other side of the dig. He called back to them, "I couldn't see anything in there! Lemme take another look!"

"No! Impulse-" Robin tried again, but a second later, the speedster was standing right next to him again.

"Nope, nothing."

Wonder Girl buried her face in her hands, "Were you born stupid, or do you work at it?"

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

Robin waited for his heart to slow down a little before speaking again, "It looks like Impulse actually disturbed the smoke enough to dissipate it. Let's see what we can see."

Seraph stepped forward and waved her hands, muttering a few words. A light breeze picked up and the smoke blew away, revealing a strange crystallized cocoon. She took a step back, "What the heck is that?"

Robin pulled out his T-Comp and pointed it at the hole. Opening it and hitting a button, he spoke loudly enough for the directional mic to pick up his voice, "Blackfire, does that thing look like anything you might know about?"

The alien girl's voice came through the com unit from the communications hub at the Tower, _"Not really. Tameranian Crystalis looks a little different."_

"Hmm." Robin turned the T-Comp around and spoke into it, "Do you think we should go in for a closer look?"

_"Can't see what it would hurt."_

"I can." A strong voice interrupted the conversation. Robin looked up and sighed, "Ho boy. Blackfire, we have government types down here. I'll call you back."

_"Be careful."_ She warned, then singed off.

Robin turned to the two agents walking towards them. One was tall, African American, and had tinges of white hair at the edges of his beard and around his temples. The other was younger looking, and Asian. They both had side arms drawn. "Hello, Agents. We don't want any trouble."

"Then leave." The shorter Asian one scowled at him.

"Hey!" Wonder Girl stepped forward, "Just who do you think you are?"

The taller black man pulled out a bill fold and flipped it open, "I'm Special Agent Donald Fite. This is my partner, Special Agent Ishido Madd." A long card holder flipped out of the bill fold, displaying various badges, "Our credentials."

"Wait…" Impulse arched an eyebrow, "You're Fite 'n Madd?"

"Yes."

He looked over at Seraph and they both chuckled.

Robin sighed and stepped forward to start reading the badges, "DEO, FBI, CIA, INTERPOL, Secret Service, Scotland Yard, Texas Rangers, US Marshals, DOD, SMERSH… USDA?"

"We like our meat fresh."

Robin shook his head, "You can't possibly have clearance from all of these organizations…"

"We're from the All Purpose Enforcement Squad. A multi-national cooperative task force." He leaned in and scowled down at Robin, "We have more clearance than _God_."

Impulse spoke up again, "You're APES?"

"Yes." Agent Fite responded again.

Impulse and Seraph giggled at each other again, and Wonder Girl covered her mouth to prevent her smile from showing.

Robin rolled his eyes under his mask, "Agents, we just want to help. Maybe we can work together to-"

"This is none of your concern." Agent Madd said, "Go back to your club house and play."

"Now, wait just a second!" Wonder Girl flew up next to Robin and shook her black haired wig, "You can't just toss us out! We're super heroes!"

"I think you'll find that we're more then capable." Agent Fite flipped the safety off on his gun.

Seraph shook her head, "Okay, this is getting out of hand. Let's all just… hey, where's Impulse?"

Very few words could inspire fear like the last three Seraph had just spoken, and Robin whirled around, "What? I thought you were watching him!"

"Me?" she gaped at him, "It's not my job to keep track of him! He's not a puppy!"

"He's worse than a puppy! At least a puppy comes back when you offer it a treat!" Robin ran to the edge of the hole and threw his hands up with a shout of frustration, "Impulse! Get your head out of that thing!"

Impulse was down in the hole with his head jammed inside a small hole he'd made in the side of the cocoon. Even as Robin was shouting at him, it exploded, blowing them all away from the edge. As the three young heroes picked themselves up, they all rushed back to the edge of the dig to look for their friend, "Imp!" Wonder Girl shouted, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" he was standing next to them, looking down into the hole.

Wonder Girl turned to Seraph, "Remind me to kill him later."

"Will do."

"What?" Impulse looked hurt.

"What the hell…" Robin was still looking into the hole, "Um… Agents? You may want to look at this…"

Fite 'n Madd picked themselves up and walked over to stare down into the hole as well. In the center of the pit was a woman wearing a bizarre outfit. It was tight, made of some kind of flexible mettle, and bright pink and purple. The top part of it was missing a large portion of it directly on the chest, revealing the woman's huge breasts. Her hair was long and auburn, and she had decidedly cat like claws, and ears sticking out of the top of her head.

"Uh…" Agent Fite scratched his head.

"Maybe you should let us handle this after all…" Robin looked grim.

The woman called up at them from down in the hole, "You! I see you there! You ask yourself, 'Who is this vision of beauty and strength? Well, once I was simply Nina Dowd, but now… now I am so much more! Now I am MIGHTY ENDOWED!"

The Teen Titans and the APES agents stared.

"Tremble!" Mighty Endowed screamed at them.

"So… wait." Wonder Girl scratched her head, "There's a new super villain who's power is… having really huge boobs?"

Seraph looked confused as well, "Um… do we have to fight her?"

Impulse looked excited, "If there's a God, yes!"

Mighty Endowed screamed at them once more, "I see you! Trembling in fear!"

"This isn't fear!" Impulse pumped a fist into the air, "It's anticipation!"

"Team, let's just… I don't even know what to do…" Robin shook his head.

"Impulse," Seraph squinted down at their advisory, "Go poke her between her shoulder blades."

"Kay!" and he was behind her in a half second, "Poke!" he said as he poked her right where Seraph had told him to.

Mighty Endowed waved her arms around, "Whoa! Hey! No! Too… top heavy!" and she pitched forward, landing on her face. "Ow."

Seraph nodded, "Way to take her out, Imp."

"Thanks!" Impulse zipped back up to them.

"Okay…" Agent Madd shook his head, "That was a little… irregular."

"That about wraps things up here." Agent Fite turned to Robin, "We'd like to thank you kids for helping to real in Mighty Endowed."

"It was nothing." Robin waved a hand, grinning a little.

"She may be Mighty Endowed to you gentlemen…" Wonder Girl slid up next to Robin, and he finished for her,

"But to us, she's just a routine bust."

* * *

"Wasn't all of that kind of anti-climatic?" Wonder Girl asked as the four super teens walked down the street in down town.

Robin, ignoring the stares of the citizens they were walking past, shrugged, "I guess. Not every battle has to end with violence and destruction though."

"Yeah, she might have gone on to flash some innocent civilians or something…" Seraph shook her head, "I'm with Cassie… I want to see some real action."

"It's too bad we couldn't investigate further. When Impulse accidentally blew Mighty Endowed's cocoon up, it destroyed the artifact that changed her in the first place."

"And that's a bad thing?" Wonder Girl stopped by a window to inspect a pair of shoes on display. They were three hundred dollars.

"I'm just wondering _why_ it changed her."

Impulse zipped up next to them, "Maybe it was _booby_ trapped."

"Aw… man, that was bad, Bart." Wonder Girl shook her head.

Seraph grinned and Robin shook his head, "Let's pack it in. I'm sure Blackfire is wondering where we are."

"Maybe we can do a patrol sweep of the city." Wonder Girl hovered up off the ground a little ways, "You know, look for some action?"

"At half past four in the afternoon?" Robin arched an eyebrow up at her, "What crime are we going to stop? People skipping out of work early?"

"You know, you're starting to be kind of a downer, Robbie."

"Don't call me Robbie."

"I'll call you whatever I want to call you!"

Robin opened his mouth to retaliate, but a bleeping from everyone's T-Comps cut him off. The all pulled out their coms and flipped them open. Blackfire stared back at them, looking worried.

_"Hey team. We just got a report of another explosion from the dig site. This one not as big… thing is, something got out, and it's headed for the city."_

"Something… got out?" Seraph asked.

_"Yeah… it apparently destroyed almost all of the vehicles on site, then started running for the city at a pretty good pace. It should be there soon."_

"Any ideas on what it is?" Robin was all business.

_"No clue. Reports say it's bipedal, has the head of a lion, and four arms."_

"What the hell is that?" Wonder Girl looked freaked out.

_"I've seen worse."_ Blackfire shrugged.

"I see big bad and ugly!" Impulse pointed, "Look out!"

Charging down the middle of Main Street was a huge humanoid creature. It had short brown fur covering its body, and wore armor that covered every inch of it except its four arms and its head. A shaggy mane of hair spilled around its head, and it roared in anger as it stomped down the street.

"Finally!" it bellowed, "After two thousand years! Rip Roar is free!"  
"Did that thing just call its self Rip Roar?" Impulse asked, "What the heck is up with all the weird names today?"

"No time to worry about that now!" Robin pulled out his staff and extended it, "Titans, go!"

Seraph took to the air, going straight up, and Wonder Girl flew straight at the beast. As she plowed into its chest, she bore down, slamming it into the pavement. Impulse was right behind her, and he started zipping around, kicking the monster every so often.

"Hold still!" the beast roared.

"Yeah, I don't think so." Impulse grabbed its mane and started dragging it along the ground. Wonder Girl flew back in and landed a solid punch right in its gut.

"Oof!" it growled, then two of it's hands shot out and grabbed her. She let out an eep! as Rip Roar hurled her away and into a car. She smashed through the drivers side door and ended up in the front seat looking dazed.

Rip Roar reached up with his other two hands and grabbed hold of Impulse. The speedster kicked his feet rapidly, but couldn't break the monster's strong grip. "Hey!" he shouted, "Leggo!"

"You are nothing more than an insect to Rip Roar!"

"And you need to stop talking about yourself in the third person!" Impulse stuck out his tongue.

If the monster was bothered by the insult, he didn't show it. He simply hurled Impulse through the wall of the closest building. The brick gave way and the speedy teen moaned from inside the pile of rubble.

"Impulse!" Seraph swooped down from the sky and landed running. She quickly made it to the prone form of her team mate and started clearing the rubble from him. As she worked, a shadow fell over her. Looking up with wide, frightened eyes, she saw Rip Roar bearing down on her with a hungry grin.

"Rip Roar… hungry…" he salivated.

"Go get a burger like everyone else than, pal." Robin deadpanned as he flew in from the side and slammed a boot into the monster's jaw. Rip Roar tumbled away but rolled up to his feet a moment later, howling in anger.

Robin didn't let up, "Yeah, yeah. Go ahead and cry like a baby, you walking fur ball." He slammed his staff across his opponent's chest, then twirled it high and glanced a blow off his temple. Rip Roar howled again, and started swinging his fists around in a rage. Robin was forced to back off for a moment, then rushed back in and blocked two blows before the monster caught him up and tossed him high and to the right. The Boy Wonder smashed through a second story window and landed in a jumbled of bo staff, cape and glass. Looking up through blurry eyes, he saw two young woman behind the counter of a cosmetics store staring at him. He rubbed his side and muttered, "Did any one catch the license plate number on that _wrecking ball_ that just hit me?"

* * *

Back at the Tower, Sarah barreled into the communications hub, grabbing up her headset and jamming it on as she spun into a chair, coming up next to Blackfire and tapping up a few screens, "What's the situation?"

"The kids are fighting a monster down town. It came from the dig I was telling you about."

"Any idea what it might be?" Sarah's fingers flew over her keyboard and she started pulling up security camera feeds in the area, as fell as traffic cameras.

Blackfire pulled up an image she had and showed Sarah what she had, "This one is cleaning up now… I'm trying to see what that symbol on its chest is."

"Looks alien."

"Wow, you're helpful today… here we go, got it…" she trailed off and reached out a hand, running her fingers down the screen, looking with terrified eyes at the symbol she'd just cleared up.

"What?" Sarah shook her partners shoulder, "What is it, Komi?"

"That's… that's the crest used by Apokolips during the wars with New Genesis."

"Huh?" Sarah looked confused.

"Earthlings wouldn't know much about it, but on Tamaran it's a well documented war… it was… two thousand Earth years ago."

Sarah looked a little flabbergasted, "That… _thing_ has been imprisoned for two thousand years?"

Blackfire nodded, "Probobly by a piece of New Genesis tech that was destroyed when Mighty Endowed was changed and Impulse blew up her cocoon.

Sarah stared at her for a moment, then pointed right at her face, "You lost me. You have no idea what a nut job you sound like right now."

"I have to go." Blackfire stood up and tossed her head set down.

_"What?"_ Sarah grabbed her arm, "Komi! You're pregnant! Call Brian or something, but you _cannot_ go out fighting New Gods from Apokolips!"

"Those kids are going to die, Sarah!" Blackfire shouted.

"They know the risks! We need to get them help, yes, but we should call in someone who isn't carrying a child!"

"I have to go! We're wasting time!"

_"No!"_ Sarah bellowed an angry look on her face. Blackfire looked shocked. She'd never seen Sarah yell like this before, "Komand'r d'Tam'ran, if you don't sit your shapely rear end back in that chair _this instant_, so help me I will tell your sister that you _really_ want to spend some quality time with her re-learning _every_ epic poem she knows!"

Blackfire stared, "You wouldn't _dare_."

"Try me." Sarah looked deadly.

Blackfire kicked it around for a moment, "Fine. Call Red-X, see what he's doing."  
"On it. Who else?"

"Raven is the only one who can make it back fast enough. Kori is too far away, and no one else can move fast enough to get her in time." Blackfire grabbed up her headset again and sat back in her chair.

"Alright. Putting out a call to her too."

* * *

A bleeping noise brought Red-X out of a sound sleep and he groped around on his night stand before he grabbed his cell phone. Flipping it open and bringing it to his ear, he muttered, "Ello?"

_"Brian?"_ he blinked when he hear the voice of Sarah Simms, _"Are you awake?"_

"I'm a thief who works at night. What do you think?"

_"The kids are in trouble, Bri! We need your help!"_

"What kids?"

_"Robin, Wonder Girl, Impulse and Seraph!"_

"The Teen Titans, huh?" he shook his head, "What's the trouble?"

_"A New God kicking their butts!"_ she sounded frantic, _"There's no time! Get geared up as quickly as you can and-"_

"No." he flopped back down.

There was a pause, _"What?"_

"I said no. I'm hardly awake and no where near fight form right now. Besides, you underestimate them… those kids are gonna show us all up really soon…"

_"Brian!" _

"Sorry, Sarah. I wish I could help, but I can't right now. Bye." He closed the phone and set it to silent. Shaking his head, he tossed it aside, "Eh. They'll be fine."

* * *

Raven wiped her mouth with a napkin and sighed in contentment. She'd found the best little café in Chicago and discovered that they had _divine_ chocolate cream pie. As she picked up and sipped her chilled mocha, her T-Comp buzzed. Flipping it open, she spoke, "Raven here."

_"Rae, we have a situation."_ It was Blackfire, _"Somehow, a New God from Apokolips got loose down town. The kids are holding him off for now, but they're getting thrashed."_

Raven narrowed her eyes, "Kylee?"

_"She's okay. I think."_ Blackfire bit her lip, _"Uh… you'd better get back here."_

"I'll be there shortly. I can't make jumps quite that large, so it's going to take me a few minutes." She stood up and placed a few bills on the table she'd been sitting at.

_"Hurry."_ Blackfire replied, then signed off.

Raven tucked her T-Comp away and vanished in a cloud of black smoke, much to the surprise of the rest of the café patrons.

* * *

Seraph was just finishing healing Impulse's broken ribs when Rip Roar loomed over her once again. She took a deep breath and jumped straight up as he bore down on her, plowing both fists into his face. The monster stumbled back and the young super teen winced, shaking her hands.

"What the hell are you made of?" she demanded. As Rip Roar turned back to her and roared a challenge, she held both hands out at him, palms out. "Let's see how well you fight when you can't see!" she shouted back, and let loose with a blinding pulse of white light.

Rip Roar stumbled back, two of his hands clutching at his eyes. Even as he shook his head and started to advance again, blinking spots from his eyes, Impulse sped around him and stomped on his toes repeatedly.

At four times the speed of sound.

The monster howled in pain and jumped back, only to find himself right in the path of Robin, swinging down from the buildings above. Both of his feet plowed into the beast's head, and it toppled over, smashing the pavement where he landed. As Rip Roar tried to stand up, a car door slammed across his head.

Wonder Girl stood next to him, the door from the car she'd slammed through clutched in her hands like a steel chair in the hands of a pro wrestler. She brought it down across his cranium again, shouting, "Stay down, damnit!"

Rip Roar suddenly surged forward, grabbing her up and slamming her into the ground with two of his hands. Holding her there, he began to beat her with his other two. She cried out as his fists slammed into her face and chest.

Robin's eyes grew wide behind his mask as he saw one of his team mates taking such a beating. He growled out the only command he could think to issue, "Titans!" he shouted, "Take this thing out! _Now_!"

Impulse zipped in and plowed Rip Roar with a shoulder block, knocking him off Wonder Girl. Robin vaulted over the speedster and came in with a hard downward chop with his staff, slamming it into the beast's arms even as it raised them to defend itself. He dodged to the side as Rip Roar threw a punch that caved a hole in the street. The monster rolled back to his feet and faced off with the Boy Wonder.

Suddenly, a white blur slammed into him, and Rip Roar howled in pain. Seraph was on his back, both feet planted against his side and her dagger buried to the hilt behind his top left shoulder blade.

Impulse didn't wait for another opening. "Hey ugly! Ten punches to the face doesn't seem to be slowing you down, so what do you say we try ten thousand?" and he commenced brutally beating Rip Roar in the face as rapidly as he could.

Robin darted back in as well, swinging his staff around and slamming Rip Roar in his injured shoulder, even while Seraph bore down and held the dagger where it was, swinging from his back as he thrashed about.

Rip Roar seemed to finally stop underestimating his opponents. With a howl of rage and grabbed Seraph from his back and slammed her into Impulse, sending both of them tumbling. He lashed out with a kick that missed Robin, but caught him with one of his two good right hands and clamped a choke hold around his neck. Lifting him off the ground, Rip Roar began to squeeze the life out of the Boy Wonder.

He chuckled out a harsh laugh until a girl's voice cut him off, "Hey! Ass hole!" he turned his head in time to see Wonder Girl forgoing her car door and just lifting the entire car off the ground. His eyes grew wide as she hurled it at him with a scream of anger.

Dropping Robin, the monster from Apokolips turned and tried to catch the car. He was too late though, and it plowed into his face, slamming him back into the ground. Wonder Girl was on him in an instant.

"I said," she growled, slamming a fist into his face, "Stay!" WHAM! "The hell!" CRACK! "Down!" THWACK!

Robin looked up at her from where he lay on the ground, gasping for breath. She was straddling the monster's prone from, a fist still hauled back, ready to strike again. Her goggles were long gone, and the black leather jacket she wore was ripped in several places. She was breathing heavily, blood trickling from a cut on her forehead and her black wig askew, revealing a few blonde strands that fell from underneath it.

It was a combat pose to be sure, but Robin saw past that. Her eyes were wild, wide and blue, glaring with deadly intent. Her gaze was that of a warrior, one that transcended the moral place. In that moment, Wonder Girl wasn't so much the kid that tagged along with Wonder Woman, but an Amazon Warrior in her own right.

"Cassie," Robin rasped out, "He's down."

She continued to breath hard, and after a moment, she stepped back, satisfied that the monster wasn't going to get back up. Impulse and Seraph walked over a moment later, and they all looked down at the prone form of the monster.

Impulse spoke first, "Damn, Cassie."

She smiled sheepishly, "Uh… he pissed me off."

"Remind me never to piss you off." Seraph chuckled.

Robin eyed Wonder Girl critically, "You know… I think you should lose the wig. You'll stand out from Wonder Woman more."

Wonder Girl looked at him funny, "I guess, but… aren't I supposed to like… be her daughter or something?"

"Why would you want to be her daughter? Don't you already have a mom?"

Wonder Girl looked a little stunned for a second, then smiled, "Yeah… I do."

At that exact moment Raven materialized in the middle of the street. The Teen Titans all looked over at her, and she stared back at them from under her hood.

"Um… aren't you supposed to be in Chicago?" Seraph asked.

"I was. Blackfire just had me teleport halfway across the country to help you fight a New God." She looked down at Rip Roar, "Is this him?"

Robin and Impulse both dropped their jaws. Impulse spoke first, "He's from _Apokolips_?"

Raven shrugged, "I guess so. Seems you four were able to handle things after all." Raven narrowed her eyes, "I'll go back to the Tower and have a little chat with Blackfire and the Operator. They need to learn that you kids aren't as helpless as they think you are."

All four of them looked at each other and grinned as Raven vanished. Robin nodded to his team, "Way to go Titans. Mission accomplished."

* * *

The next morning Tim Drake cracked his eyes open and rolled out of bed. He was sore all over from the fight the day before, and Seraph's healing ability only went so far. He took a few minutes to stretch out, then dressed in sweats and a t-shirt with the bat logo on it. He walked to the door of his room, paused, then walked back to the desk. Picking up his eye mask, he smoothed it out over his face.

Ready for his morning workout, Robin left his room.

* * *

Three minutes later, Robin stood in the doorway of the gym, his eyes wide and his moth hanging open. His right hand went limp and he dropped the towel he'd brought with him.

"BART!" Wonder Girl was shouting, flying along behind him as he tore across the room, "I swear to the Gods that if you _EVER_ snap my bra again, I'll _dismember_ you!"

"Comeonitwasjustajoke!" Impulse shouted back as he ran up a wall and Wonder Girl plowed into it.

A short ways away Seraph and Blackfire were arguing, "Komi, I don't need to wear a freakin' sports bra like Cassie! I have no boobs!" she motioned at her t-shirted front.

Blackfire waved a black sports bar in the younger girls face, "I don't think you realize that you do have a little bit of a shape to you, Kylee. And there are _boys_ here that will definitely notice that shape if you don't start wearing one!"

Kylee blushed and opened her mouth to say something, but right then, Impulse ran into her. They fell to the ground, even as Wonder Girl, swooping in to grab the speedster, tried to pull up. She plowed face first into Blackfire, who grunted as she hit the ground. There was a two second pause, then all hell broke loose.

"Bart, get off! Wait, don't put your hand- AH!"

"Holy crap! Kylee I didn't mean to-"

"You groped me you pervert!"

"Hey! Don't- OW!"

"X'hal damnit, Cassie! I'm fucking pregnant!"  
"I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

"No! I am not!" A flash of violet later and Wonder Girl was sailing across the room. She hit the ground and rolled up to her feet. Taking to the air, she screamed as more energy blasts from Blackfire started burning towards her.

"Get back here you sicko!" Kylee screamed.

"No! You'll hit me again!" Bart ran. Fast.

"Oh, I'm going to do more than hit you!"

"Whoa! Komi, calm down!"

"Come on, Cassie! This is just _training_!"

"This is crazy!"

"OW! Kylee, stop it!"

"I'm gonna cripple you, you perverted little shit!"

"Stop it with the energy blasts!"

"Stop it with the flying away!"

"No fair running up the walls!"

"No fair?!? You're trying to kill me!"

"And you should take it like a man!"

"Why am I being blasted? This is all Bart's fault!"

"You should learn to fly better!"

"You should learn to dodge!"

"BART!"

"CASSIE!"

"STOP HITTING ME!"

"YOWCH! CUT IT OUT WITH THE BLASTING!"

Robin groaned and buried his face in his hands, "And we were working together so well yesterday…" he side stepped as a chunk of the ceiling fell where was standing. A stray energy blast zipped past his head and scorched the wall behind him in the hallway. A small scream made him turn around and look to see who was there.

Sarah backed up a few steps, "Komi in a bad mood?"

"Probably just a hormonal thing." Robin replied, "Is it like this _every_ day?"

"Pretty much. It doesn't take that long to get used to it really."

"We need more discipline."

"Good luck. Nightwing tries every day."

"And I'm supposed to lead this bunch of kids?"

"Don't forget," Sarah bent down and tapped him on the nose, "you're a kid too… Tim."

As she stood straight and smiled at him, he looked at her in wonder. His eyes followed her as she walked down the hall and entered the elevator. She turned back and waved before the doors shut.

"What else do you know, Sarah Simms?" he muttered, then shook his head. "Reminds me of Babs." Sighing, he turned and marched towards the gym to try to gain some measure of control over the Teen Titans.

* * *

Closing Notes: So here's the deal. I've got a few ideas for the membership sweep with the other Titans. Since they're up next, I need more ideas. Some of their stories will be longer than others, and some will be short and sweet. What I need from you guys and girls is ideas for new Titans. Wrack your brains, and start throwing out names. I prefer DC characters of some kind, but if you just feel a burning need to suggest on OC, PM me with the details. From there I'll narrow the list down to one recruit per Titan and we'll see what I can't hammer out. This is a hump I feel a great need to get over, so all the help I can get is appreciated. With all that out of the way, I guess I just need to tell you…

* * *

Next Time – It's a homecoming like none other when Arsenal returns to Star City for the first time since leaving it to join the Titans. Will things with Green Arrow go well? And who the heck is this new girl running around in a red and gold outfit, calling herself 'Speedy?' 


	7. Speedy

Jump City Symphony

A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonald

Opening Notes – It's been a little while since I posted one of these ten thousand word chapters... homework is kicking my ass right now. I swear this is the last time I'm taking multiple Lit classes in the same semester. I mean, for the love of God, can I be forced to read any more? And the essays! Sheesh… Anyway, I wanted to post something, and this one was the closest to being done. I pounded out the rest of it, and here it is. Look for more soon, as the semester is ending and I'll have little to do during the day when I'm not a retail slave than write. Don't loose faith in me yet, kids. I'm still working on everything I have up (Ties, Day to Day, Forward Motion, this one…) it's just slow going with all the other things I've got going on. I'm sorry for the huge wait times, but it's just how it is right now.

Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Teen Titans, or any other DC properties.

* * *

_**Speedy**_

* * *

Arsenal stepped out of the beat up looking Oldsmobile he was driving and looked up at the imposing building before him. In downtown Star City, the tallest most impressive building was the Queen Industries HQ, and it's massive glass exterior glinted in the sun as he squinted his eyes up at it through his ruby shades.

"Great to be home." He muttered as he plunked a few quarters into the meter he had parked in front of. He was wearing civilian clothes, and was going by his real name for the time being. And not just his real name, as in the one he used with most with the Titans. He was using his _real_ real name. The one he'd been born with, and the one his adoptive father would know him by.

Walking in through the front doors of the building, he turned a quick right, waving at the receptionist as he passed her. She arched an eyebrow at the unfamiliar face, but since he seemed to know where he was going, she let him go. Arsenal walked right up to the elevator on the right side of the lobby and pushed the up button. A minute later, the doors opened to admit him, and he stepped in, hitting the button for the twenty first floor.

The muzak in the elevator was annoying and over loud, so he spent the ride making faces at the security camera in the corner. When the doors opened, he stepped out and walked down the hallway lined with executive offices that he'd been admitted to. When he reached the end of the hall, he came upon a small room that opened right off the hallway. There was a bookshelf, a few waiting chairs, and a desk that housed a pretty blonde woman who was typing away at her computer while she listened to dictation notes from a tape recorder.

It was a full minute before she noticed he was even there. She paused her tape and looked up at him in an expectant manner, "Yes? What can I do for you young man?"

Arsenal rolled his eyes. She was maybe a few years older than him, "I'd like to see Mister-"

"Do you have an appointment?"

"No, I don't have an appointment."

"There are no meetings without appointment. Please register in this book and we'll see if we can get you in sometime in the next few weeks."

"Um, it's kind of not a business thing."

"Then why are you here?"

"To see Mister-"

"But you need to have an appointment."  
"I'm getting that. Look, just tell him Roy Harper is here to see him."

"Sir, this is a multi billion dollar company. Not a country club."

Arsenal grit his teeth. "Just. Tell. Him."

The girl frowned, but hit the button on her desk for the intercom anyway, "Mr. Queen?"

There was a brief pause, then a deep male voice replied, "Kelly, I've told you. Call me Ollie, please."

She blushed lightly, but replied, "Yes, Ollie. There's a Mr. Roy Harper here to see you."

There was a long pause, then the doors of the office beyond Kelly's desk burst open and a tall man with blonde hair, a blonde beard and mustache, and bright blue eyes rushed out. He saw Arsenal and quickly moved to his side, "Roy! Damn, boy! How long have you been gone?  
Arsenal smiled in a strained kind of way, "Three years."

"Wow!" Ollie seemed genuinely happy to see him, "You've gotten big!"  
The red haired archer rolled his eyes, "I was almost as tall as you when I left."

"And you still are! Almost, I mean." Ollie nudged him, "Come in, come in!" he ushered Arsenal into his office, and looked over his shoulder as he did, "Kelly, no one is to disturb my son and I."

Her mouth dropped open, "Son?"

Arsenal leaned around Ollie, "Adopted son. Sorry about the confusion!"

"I… you…" she stammered with a deep blush, but Arsenal didn't get to see any more because the doors shut as Ollie dragged them in. He turned and faced his ward, giving him a critical once over for a moment, then spoke.

"It's been a long time Roy. Why now?"

"I need some help in an area I'm completely unfamiliar with." Arsenal had expected this conversation right away.

"Who'd you knock up?"

Arsenal stared.

Ollie stared back.

A moment later, Arsenal realized, Ollie was being serious. "Um… no one, Ollie. I just… the Titans are doing a recruitment sweep, and I though maybe you'd know a few younger heroes around that could use the guidance…"

Ollie blushed a little and scratched his head, "Oh… I knew you meant something like that…"

Both men grinned a moment later, and any tension between them broke. Roy Harper stepped forward and slung an arm around Oliver Queen's shoulders, "So… Kelly calls you "Ollie" huh?"

* * *

"So do you know anyone?" Roy asked as he sat leaned back in an executive leather chair with his feet kicked up on Ollie's desk. Ollie sat behind the desk in his expensive looking chair as well, signing some paper work. 

"Not really. There was Arrowette, but she quit." Ollie's mustache quivered.

Roy narrowed his eyes, "Your mustache quivered."  
Ollie looked up, "So?"

"That means you're lying, or not being entirely truthful."

The bigger man threw his hands up in the air, "How do people pick up on that? Dinah said the same thing just a few nights ago-"

"Whoa! Slow down!" Roy leaned forward, "Who the hell is Dinah?"

Ollie paused, then a full blush crept up his neck and stained his cheeks. He replied in a mumbled tone, "Um… no one."

"Right. I believe that."

"How about you?" Ollie shot back, "Who are you dating, Harper?"

"Raven Roth. And we have a foster child we look after named Kylee Rodgers." He didn't even blink, just grinned a stupid grin, "I love 'em both more than I can say."  
"Really?" Ollie's eyes softened, "That's great, Roy. I'm really happy for you."

"You're trying to change the subject." Roy pointed, "Who is this Dinah?"

"Black Canary." Ollie mumbled as his blush came back and he looked away.

Roy just stared for a moment, then burst out laughing, "You're dating a JLA girl?"

"And why is that so surprising?"

"Because you're such a goofus! Why would any girl from the Justice League want to date you?"

"Roy…" Ollie's face grew serious. This was a conversation he'd been hoping to delay, "I… I _joined_ the League."

Roy stopped laughing. He stared for a moment, then replied slowly, "Green Arrow is a member of the Justice League?"

"Yes."

Roy suddenly kicked his feet off the desk and stood up, storming across the room and then back to the front of the desk. He looked down at a frowning Oliver Queen and pointed a shaking finger, growling out, "You shut us down. You Goddamn shut the Titans down, Ollie!"

"They took a vote, Roy. The League is bigger than it used to be, but majority still rules." He looked down at his desk, "I voted against it, if it makes you feel any better."

Roy was furious, "You should have stood up for us. Since when has Green Arrow ever backed down from a fight?"

"We all have to grow up sometime, Roy." Ollie sighed and put down his pen, rubbing his eyes, "I just… I had a lot on my plate right then, and I really needed the League's help and support."

"So you let them shut us down?"

"Have you ever tried to argue with Superman?"

Roy leaned over the desk and glared fiercely, "Green Arrow would have gotten up in Superman's face and shouted him down. Oliver Queen would have thrown around his financial weight to make sure he got his way. You've grown weak and complacent, Ollie. You're not the man I knew." He stood up and walked across the office to the doors, where he paused and looked over his shoulder, "You're not the man who raised me."

He slammed the door on his way out.

* * *

Back when he had lived in Star City, Roy had spent a good deal of time running around rooftops and back ally's with Green Arrow, cleaning up the filth that was found there with trick arrows and a few well placed punches. When he hadn't been running around as Speedy though, he'd spent a lot of his down time at the Queen Recreational Hall. 

The Hall was an inner city youth club where kids could come to get away from home for a few hours, but stay off the streets as well. They offered a wide variety of programs, from sports and athletic activities, to computer clubs and video games. The Hall also had a top notch drug rehabilitation clinic, and served as a base of operations for support groups for every kind of problem a young person could have. Some were for addicts, some were for those with anger issues, and still others were for pregnant teens.

The facility itself was huge, being four levels high with two sublevels and taking up a whole city block on its own. Another block worth of open courts and ranges was attached to one side of it. The whole place was one of the best free youth clubs in the nation, rivaled only by the Wayne Foundation Youth Hall in Gotham.

When Roy walked through the doors he almost immediately saw a familiar face. He grinned at a young man he'd spent a good deal of his youth hanging out with.

"Bill!" he called, and the man in his early twenties turned around. His face split into a huge grin when he saw who was calling him.

"Roy!" he strode forward and the two young men embraced, "You red haired devil you! What the heck brings you back to Star City?"

Roy slapped the slightly older man on the back, "Oh you know. Just came back to visit Ollie, poke around, hang out with some old friends."

"Well, you know you're more than welcome to hang out here." Bill waved a hand to the large, open lobby of the Hall, "We have more kids now than ever before, and the staff is the best we've ever had. You want the grand tour, or do you think you can still find your way around?"

"I think I'll be fine. You have a class or something?"

"How'd you know I was teaching a class?"

"Aside from the fact that you're a first rate fighter?" Roy grinned. Bill had learned right along side him from the Hall's resident Karate Master, and the red haired Titan wasn't afraid to admit that his old friend would give him a run for his money even now. He shook Bill's hand one more time as they prepared to part company, "Come on Bill… you were born for this."

"And you were born to go to the most expensive collage in the country."

Roy rolled his eyes and shoved his friend along, "Yeah, yeah. Not as easy as it sounds getting an MBA when you're not even twenty yet. Trust me."

"Oh, I do." Bill laughed, "I think I'll stick to teaching kids how to throw a proper punch. See you around, Roy?"

"Count on it."

"Where can I find you after my class?"

"Where else?" Roy grinned, "The archery range."

* * *

The Hall had a top notch, Olympic grade archery range, where several youngsters came to attempt to idolize their local super hero, Green Arrow. Roy had spent almost all of his time at the Hall shooting arrows at any target he could when he was younger. Sure, Ollie had an extensive training grounds at his manor in the country outside of town, but here, Roy had been able to practice, show off, and hang with kids his own age. It had just made sense. 

Now, as he strapped on a wrist guard and picked up a bow and a stack of arrows, he felt the warmth of an age old pastime of his come flooding back. This felt right. This felt more like how Star City should be, rather than how Ollie had been acting.

He was only on his fifteenth arrow, firing into a target some eighty yards out, when he noticed another one of the many kids on the range shooting at almost the same rate he was, and with almost the same accuracy. Blinking, he stopped shooting and watched.

She was a young woman, really, maybe fourteen or fifteen. Thin blonde hair spilled down her back in a pony tail, reaching just between her shoulder blades. Her long sleeved blue shirt and loose fitting jeans still made her developing form look good, and her sneakers were an off brand that would serve for walking, but not style.

What really got Roy's attention though, was her shooting. She was fluid with her movements, and her eyes were sharp, lining up her aim and her shot in so little time, he'd hardly say he could do it better. Making up his mind quickly, he walked on over.

"Hey there!" he waved and leaned on his bow a little ways away from her, "Where'd you learn how to shoot like that?"

She turned an ice blue gaze on him and he almost flinched. She didn't look happy, "Who wants to know?"

"Whoa! No need to get defensive! My name is Roy Harper. What's yours?"

"Mia." She replied after giving him a once over, "Mia Dearden."

"Cool." Roy motioned with one hand, "Don't let me hold you up. Please, keep shooting."

"What the hell do you want, buddy?" she frowned at him and knocked an arrow, holding the bow loosely in her hands, pointing at the ground. Roy knew she could get that bow up and shoot him with it before he could more two steps forward.

"Just glad to see there's another great shooter out here." He smiled and stepped forward. She watched him suspiciously until he stood next to her. Taking one of her arrows, he knocked it and aimed for a half second before he shot, pulling a bullseye without a problem. "Ha! Beat that shot."  
Mia rolled her eyes, aimed, and fired, landing her arrow right next to his. Roy arched an eyebrow.

"Wow. Hmm…" he looked around, "Okay…" taking another arrow, he fired once again, letting the arrow fly low, bounce off the ground once, then skip back up and hit the bulls eye once again. "Bring it on, girl!"

Mia's eyes grew wide but she knocked an arrow up any way. She fired and pulled off the same trick, albeit with her arrow ending up a few inches lower that Roy's.

"No way." He breathed. She was good. Really good. That shot was almost impossible without a few weeks of practice, and she'd done it on her first try. He frowned, "Okay… how about… behind the back…"

* * *

Two hours later, Oliver Queen walked on to the archery range, dressed in casual clothes and toting a small bundle in one arm. It was a present for Roy, kind of a peace offering so he could get the boy to talk to him again. The kid could never refuse a gift of cheese cake form the Aunt Bette's Bakery down town. He'd be opening up in a heart beat. 

What he found when he stepped up to the range though, was a small crowd of kids. Wading through them and smiling at the ones he knew, Ollie looked to see what the commotion was.

Roy was standing with Mia, pointing as he spoke, "Off the light post there, angled back around to skip off the top of the eighty yard target, then bouncing into the bulls eye of the hundred yarder."

"Right." Mia rolled her eyes, "No one can make that shot, Roy."

"You giving up?"

"Screw you."

Roy grinned and took aim. He fired and let the arrow barely knick the light post, making it slide sideways and flying in a low arch, where it skipped across the top of the eighty yard target and buried its self perfectly in the bulls eye of the hundred yard target. "Hell yeah!" he pumped a fist in the air, "I. Am. The. MAN!"

"Move over." Mia shoved him with a grin and took aim herself, "This is crazy." But she fired anyway, and repeated the shot, only falling a few feet short of the target. Roy whooped and pumped a fist in the air.

"Yeah! Ricochet shot wins the bout for Harper!"

"Hold on! Let me take a Mulligan!"

"Alright." Roy pointed, "But only because you're cute."  
"So if I was ugly I wouldn't get another shot?"

"Exactly."

"I thought you had a girlfriend."

"I do. And a foster child, actually. But take your shot and I'll decide if I'm dumping them for you or not."

Mia grinned and took the shot. The arrow was true this time, and she almost hit Roy's it landed so close. Roy threw his hands up as she shouted, "YEAH!" and the crowd burst into cheers.

Ollie couldn't help but cheer along with them. He stepped forward as the crowd started to break up, and clomped Roy on the shoulder, "I see you've met our newest star archer."  
"I have." Roy shrugged his hand off, "I'm still not talking to you- is that cheese cake?"

"Yep."

"From Aunt Bette's?"

"You bet your cocky ass."

"… fine. We'll talk." And he grabbed the cake, a piece of which he offered to Mia before stuffing another piece in his mouth. He made an orgasmic noise. Mia giggled.

"Mia, how much homework do you have left today?" Ollie looked down at her.

"Only a little." She nibbled her cake, "How do you know Roy?"

"I raised him. He's my ward."

"Oh. OH!" she almost dropped her cake, "I'll, uh… just go get that homework done then… I'll see you later, Ollie." And she dashed off, putting the bow away before she left the field.

"Kind of young for you, isn't she?" Roy asked around a mouthful of cake.

"She's a good kid, and a great archer." Ollie looked at him with a sideways glance, "Reminds me of you, actually."

"Yeah, she's kind of sweet, kind of cocky, and really good looking."

"She's also bull headed, doesn't like to listen to reason, and makes life difficult for everyone that knows her."

"Now you're describing all three of us."

"Too true. What are you doing later?"

"Though I might throw on the gear. Run around the city like I used to. See if anyone still remembers ol' Speedy."

Ollie almost winced, "Yeah, I'm sure they will. You want company?"

"Naw. You go do whatever it is you need to do tonight. I'll catch up with you tomorrow, okay?"

"Sure." Ollie nodded, "We'll talk then."

As he walked away, Roy chewed his cake, not able to shake the feeling that there was something more his mentor was hiding from him.

* * *

Night had fallen and with it, Roy had retreated to a hotel room at the Hilton. As he pulled on his red jacket over the black body armor he wore, he spoke to the laptop his T-Comp was hooked up to, "I dunno, Rae. Ollie seemed really shifty." 

_"Jason, I can't sense him from all the way in Chicago. Especially having never met him."_

"I'm not asking you to. And call me Roy. Everyone here does, and it feels weird going by my middle name."

_"I thought you were trying to distance yourself from Green Arrow and your old life."_ Raven arched an eyebrow over the video link, _"Are you sure you want to go out and run around with him tonight?"_

"I thought you'd be ecstatic that I'm getting back in touch with Ollie. Isn't that what girlfriends do? Try to get you to make up with your parents and stuff?"

_"I'm hardly a normal girlfriend."_ Raven rolled her eyes, _"Just remember that you're bringing this on yourself."_

"I think it'll be good for me." Roy faced the screen as he holstered a gun and put on his shades, "Although…"

_"What?"_

"Nightwing seemed really shifty back at the Tower when I told him I was coming here. What do you think he knows that I don't?"

_"Knowing Dick, you'll love it and hate it all at the same time."_ There was a thump from Raven's side of the connection, and she looked over, then sighed, _"I have to go… Lilith just got back and she looks trashed."_

"Well tell her to drink one for me too."

_"Will do."_ Raven rolled her eyes, _"I love you, Roy Harper."_

"And I love you too, Raven. Arsenal out."

_"Yeah, yeah."_ Raven smiled briefly,_"Raven out."_

The connection cut and Roy shut the laptop, disconnecting his T-Comp. Putting it in a secured pocket, he walked to the window, opened it and fired a line off from the grappler attached to his wrist. Testing the strength of the cord once, he jumped from the tenth story window without hesitation or fear.

* * *

Muggers weren't very common in Star City. With a home town super hero that really liked to clean up the small time crime before taking on the big stuff, most crooks were just too damn scared to do anything so stupid. This led to a drastic decrease in the number of petty thefts and gun and knife point muggings throughout the city. 

I also lead to two less positive things. The first was that those that were committing the crimes were of a braver, cockier breed than the lesser muggers. They were also tough as nails, and knew how to fight and stay out of sight when they needed to.

To Arsenal, it was the best time of his night when he found one.

The muggers in Steel City had been wimps and drug addicts mostly, and Jump wasn't much better (though he did have occasion to chase a certain professional thief after he snatched a purse or two… something he flatly refused to let Raven do.) The muggers in Star City presented a challenge, and he was more than up for it tonight.

"Aw, don't run!" he shouted as a beefy man started to dash down the ally he was fighting in. The red clad archer held one unconscious man up by the collar as he yelled, "I'm just warming up! Your three buddies were kind enough to give me a bit of a workout!"

The running man didn't reply, just kept running. Arsenal sighed and pulled out one of his guns loaded with rubber bullets. He aimed and fired quickly, hitting the man in the back of the knee and making him trip and fall into a pile of trash. He lay there, breathing hard and not moving as he clutched his knee.

Arsenal dropped the man he was holding and walked over, "So… this your turf? Anything you want to tell me about what's been going on around here?"

"Yeah!" the man winced as the hero checked the clip of his gun and holstered it with a great show of proficiency, "There's Harvard and BJ down at the gym tonight! They runnin' a huge deal man! Like, tons of heroin and shit!"

Arsenal nodded, "Thanks for the tip. You might want to get your buddies to a hospital." He jerked a thumb over his shoulder, "I'll let you off tonight, but I'm telling Green Arrow to keep an eye on you."

"Who the fuck are you, man?" the thug looked at him with wild eyes.

Leaning down, Roy scowled in the man's face, "Don't tell me you punks have forgotten me after only a few years… I used to run with ol' G.A… now I'm out on my own, with the Titans. Call me Arsenal, and tell your friends, at least for the next couple of nights, there's more than one badass with a bow running around Star City."

As he stalked out of the ally, the thug eyed him with fear.

* * *

The gym the man had spoken of was down the street ten blocks, so Arsenal had to hustle to get there quickly. After arriving on the scene, he was please to see that both parties for the deal were standing outside in the street having a smoke. Getting to a nearby rooftop as quickly as he could, the red haired hero decided to go back to his roots and really put the fear of God into the drug dealers. 

Reaching behind himself, he pulled off his back a collapsible composite bow. Extending the ends, he tested the pull. Satisfied that it had the right amount of force behind it, he reached once more behind his waist and pulled an arrow out of the small quiver he had strapped near his belt. The drawback to carrying so much more equipment than he used to was having fewer arrows, so he didn't have any of the standard tricks that Green Arrow kept around. Just explosions and freeze arrows for him.

Deciding to start things off with a bang, Arsenal launched a particle detonation arrow directly into the middle of the group of smoking men. Then all shouted in alarm and pain as the street between them exploded.

Dropping from the building, Arsenal drew another arrow and aimed it, "Nice night, boys. I hear you guys might be doing something slightly illegal over here…"

"It's Green Arrow!" one of them shouted.

"Naw!" Another replied, pulling a gun, "It's his old brat. I hear he aint nothin' next to his old man! Cap him!"

Four of the six standing men pulled more guns and Arsenal grinned, "Oh, I was hoping this wouldn't be too easy!" and he fired his next arrow. One man was taken off his feet by the explosion in his chest and the last four with guns opened fire as the other two ran back for the gym. Arsenal ducked to the side and rolled, coming back up running with another arrow ready. He let loose and took out another man.

As he reached for another arrow, Arsenal ran into someone. Someone who felt like a brick wall. He grunted as he fell to the side, then rolled and pointed the arrow up at the hulking figure of gigantic man. "Uh…" he fired the arrow.

The huge man wasn't even fazed by the point blank explosion.

"Oh… shit." Arsenal dropped his bow and reached for one of his guns, even as the mountain of a man swatted him aside. Rolling out of the fall, Roy came up and slammed into the side of a building with the momentum of the tumble. He winced.

"Yeah!" one of the dealers shouted, "Get him Rocco!"

"Rocco?" Arsenal snorted, "Why do you meta thugs always have names like Rocco and Bruno? Or Brusier… that's a popular one too." He jumped out of the way as Rocco punched a hole in the brick wall next to his head, "Kind of strong there, huh?"

"Gonna crush you, bitch!" Rocco screamed, and his hand shot out faster than Roy could dodge this time. He caught the young man by the throat and hefted him up off the ground, shaking him once. Arsenal gagged and tried to flail his arms around a little as he felt his neck about to snap.

The grin on Rocco's face fled as an arrow with a steel filled boxing glove attached to the end of it slammed into the side of his head. He looked over in time to see Green Arrow charging through the crowd of drug dealers, taking out three of them with swipes from his bow, and kicking the gun out of the hand of the last man. As he watched the emerald archer square off with the last standing dealer, Rocco decided it was time to finish his first target and take out the second.

Looking back to Arsenal, he found himself staring down the barrel or a 9 mil. The hero in his hand growled at him, "Say goodnight, Gracie." And pulled the trigger.

The gun went off right in Rocco's face, and while the rubber bullet bouncing off of between his eyes didn't hurt him too much, the muzzle flash and the heat from the chamber burned his eyes. Dropping Arsenal, Rocco clutched at his face with a howl of pain.

Roy gasped for breath a few times, then back peeled away from the giant of a man. He arched an eyebrow over at Green Arrow, seeing him take care of his last opponent without much difficulty. The older man turned to him with a smile, "Good to see you, Arsenal."

"You too, Old Man." Arsenal jerked his head towards the metahuman thug, "What the hell is his deal?"

G.A. frowned, "Someone's been selling Venom serum on the Black Market around here. He looks pretty hopped up on it."

"I'll say… he's damn near invulnerable."

"Then we'll just have to be a little rougher." Green Arrow pulled out an arrow and fired it, locking the meta's left arm in a block of ice, "Let's take him, Arsenal."

"Fine with me." Roy grinned and fired three more shots into the man's left knee, making him fall to his right with another shout of pain. Rocco growled low in his throat and yanked his left arm free, spraying both heroes with ice shards and forcing them to back up a few steps. Deciding that the man with the gun was the least threatening for now, Rocco charged Green Arrow.

The emerald archer ducked and rolled between the giant thug's legs, coming up behind him with another punching arrow, slamming it into the back of his head. As Rocco stumbled, he pulled out a tazer arrow and shot that directly into the meta's back as well.

After a few seconds of convulsing under the charge, Rocco slumped forward, collapsing where he stood. Green Arrow stood up and arched an eyebrow. "Huh. Wasn't as tough as he looked." And he started to walk over.

Arsenal saw Rocco's hand twitch, and his eyes grew wide, "Ollie, no!" he shouted, but it was too late. As the elder man got up next to Rocco, the giant suddenly stood up and grabbed him. Lifting the Emerald Archer above his head, the meta prepared to slam him down into his knee, breaking the smaller man like kindling.

Four shots rang out across the street, and Rocco dropped Green Arrow as his arms jerked about. He stood there with four bullet wounds blasted clean through his arms, and Arsenal stood a little ways away, his second gun drawn and aimed. G.A. stood up quickly and jogged back away from the meta, "Roy… what the hell?"

Arsenal didn't reply. He just walked over to Rocco as the meta dropped his arms and glared up at him. Rocco stuttered out, "You… you shot me!"

"You'll live." Roy pointed his first gun up into the man's face, "Now lay down." And he emptied the clip of rubber bullets into his face.

Rocco hit the ground with a resounding thud.

A second later, Green Arrow was jerking his wards arm around and shouting in his face, "What the hell is wrong with you? You shot him! With real bullets! He could go into shock, or bleed to death, or-"

Roy shoved his mentor off of him, "Ollie, they're not real bullets. They're specially designed to cauterize any wounds they create. It reduces chances of shock, and eliminates any chance for bleeding out. I only use it when I have to."

Green Arrow glared, "It's not right. It's not how I taught you to do this job."

Arsenal sighed and looked up at the sky, "I'm not you, Ollie. I'm me. Arsenal. Roy Haprer." He looked back down at the man he considered to be a father to him, "I'm a Titan, and a damn good hero. And I won't hear you telling me otherwise."

Ollie stared at him for a moment, then almost smiled, "You really are a grown man, aren't you?"

"Yeah." Roy nodded, "I guess I am."

The moment was shattered as a van smashed through the garage doors of the gym's loading dock and tore off down the street past them. Both men knew it was loaded with the drugs they had come here to stop from being distributed, and they both reached for weapons to stop the vehicle, even though they knew it was far too late to stop it.

From a building top next to the fight scene, four arrows flew in rapid succession into the tires of the moving van. Two of them blew and the drug wagon skidded once, then plowed into a street lamp, ending its get away. Roy's eyes snapped up to the building the arrows had come from.

Crouching there was a red clad figure with a golden hood pulled up over the head. As the figure stood, Roy could see it was clearly a female, but couldn't make out the masked face under the hood.

Green Arrow growled, then shouted, "Speedy! I told you to stay hidden until I gave the word!"

She flipped him off.

"You-!" Green Arrow shook his bow at her, "Get down here!"

Arsenal spun around and grabbed his mentor's shirt front, "You… you replaced me? You gave someone else my name?" his face was twisted into a mask of fury, and Ollie had the good sense not to antagonize him further.

"Now, look, Roy… the Titans had been disbanded, I needed a partner out here, and you'd just retired with your girlfriend and that little girl… I didn't think you were coming back!"

"You should have known better!" Roy shook him, "This is bullshit, Ollie! Who is she?"

Green Arrow didn't reply. He shouted, "Speedy, go home."

When Roy looked up again, she was gone. He laughed, "At least she listens better than I used to. And I can't say I'm surprised it's a girl, either… just can't keep it in your pants can you, Ollie?"

"Hey, shut up… you're not exactly a saint."

"Yeah, but I settled down. You never will." Roy shoved him away, "I can't believe you. You could have called me… asked my permission or something!"

"I gave you the costume and the name, Roy."

"Yeah, whatever. Bruce could get away with that, but not you. Speedy was my name. My identity! You stole it and gave it to some other kid who doesn't deserve it. She hasn't earned it!"

"Yes, she has." Green Arrow glared at him, "More than you ever did before I put you on the street anyway." He took a step forward and got right in Roy's face, "And at least she doesn't bail on me to go play with her friends every two days."

The jibe against the Titans was too much. Roy punched him in the face as hard as he could, and watched as the man who raised him fell to the street next to Rocco. Green Arrow looked up at him with a bleeding lip and scowled. Arsenal glared right back, "I hate you." He said quietly. "I really do."

As he holstered his guns and walked away, Ollie's face screwed up and he held his head in his hands. "Oh, Roy…" he muttered, "I'm sorry…"

* * *

On a rooftop in Gotham, Nightwing glared out over the streets with a scowl. He was sure Jinx was out somewhere, despite his instructions for her to stay at the Clock Tower. She had left her com, and as he pondered ways to track her, his own T-Comp started buzzing. He pulled it out and flipped it open, "Nightwing here." 

_"You knew."_ Arsenal growled at him over the video connection, his face screwed up in rage, _"You fucking knew and you didn't tell me, you son of a bitch!" _

"Calm down, Roy." Nightwing looked calm, "Of course I knew. You would have too if you had bothered to pay attention."

_"You should have told me. We're friends, Dick. Practically brothers!" _

"It was something you had to figure out for yourself."

_"Why? What the fuck kind of twisted logic is that!"_

"Roy, Green Arrow is your past… your family. Don't you think maybe… just maybe… instead of screaming at him and at me, you should find the new Speedy and talk to _her_?"

Arsenal glared for a second, _"I don't care who she is. She's a punk bitch, and I want her out of my costume."_

"I don't think her costume is the same as yours. She's got breasts, after all."

_"Stop fucking with me, Dick."_ Roy growled.

"Fine. Here's my advice. When I gave Tim the mantle of Robin, I gave him a T-Comp to go with it. I tied him to me so closely that as much crap as Batman might feed into his head, he'll always have more of me in him to keep him balanced. He's the perfect kid to carry on my old name, because I made sure he had such close ties to me. The new Speedy isn't going to go away, Roy." Nightwing looked at his friend with a light smile, "So make her into something you can be proud of, not something Ollie wants her to be."

Arsenal glared for another few seconds, then looked away from his T-Comp. _"I'll think about it. I just need to go hit someone for a little while." _

"As long as it's not Ollie."

_"Already did that."_

Nightwing sighed, "Then go apologize before the night is over. He didn't deserve that."

_"Fine."_ Arsenal sighed as well,_"Thanks, Dick."_

"Whatever. I've got work to do. Be good."

_"Always."_ Roy saluted, _"Arsenal out."_

* * *

Roy rolled up to the grounds of the Queen Estates some time around 3:00am. He killed the engine of his beat up looking Achiva near the attached garages and climbed out into what he knew was a blind spot from any kind of outside surveillance. He was speaking into his T-Comp as he walked towards the doors that would take him through the kitchen and into the manor proper. 

"You're sure?" he asked.

The digitalized voice of the Oracle came back to him_, "Yes, Harper, I'm sure. G.A. is still in town… at the moment he's terrorizing a kid who just bought less than an ounce of weed."_

"Feh." Arsenal rolled his eyes. "All right. Thanks Oracle."

_"I still don't see why you have to make it a surprise."_

"I want to be here before him so I can think out what I'm going to say. And to set up the Sorry board."

_"Sorry?"_

"It's what we play when we argue. Keeps us both from getting too out of hand… and it's a great way to show your frustration with someone."

_"Whatever. I try not to fathom what you boys get up to out there… Dinah says Ollie is insufferable sometimes."_

"Oh, _Dinah_ says, huh?"

_"I think she has a crush on him. He hits on her all the time."_

"Sweet Jesus… let's hope that match never happens."

_"I dunno… they'd be cute together."_

"Canary's too hot for Ollie. He's all old… and he has… old… balls…"

Oracle snorted over the connection then laughed in a digital voice, _"Old… balls… I'm telling Dinah…"_

"You do that." He grinned as he reached the door to the house, "Arsenal out."

Arsenal knew this door would be unlocked, as it always was. Anyone who could make it this far into the grounds without being detected and deterred by the security system deserved to be able to get in. The only reason the young archer had made it in at all was because he knew the security codes by heart and Ollie hadn't changed them.

As he opened the door, he expected complete silence and a darkened room. The kitchen wasn't really a place anyone who'd lived in the Queen Estate had spend too much time in… ever. They ate off paper plates and their diet consisted largely of instant meals and take out. Ollie didn't believe in keeping cooks or butlers.

So it was with a fair amount of surprise that Roy walked into a brightly lit room with rock music blaring from a shelf unit on the counter. He looked about with wide eyes and took in every detail, trying to tell himself that it wasn't possible for anyone else to be here, that… that…

He was distracted by the sight of a young girl, maybe fourteen or fifteen years old, with mid-length blonde hair, dancing to the music as she dumped toppings on a large pile of ice cream. She wore a loose tank top that almost fell down enough to reveal her breasts, and was cut off high enough to reveal her toned stomach. Tight cut off jean shorts rode up dangerously high on her athletic looking legs, and her bare feet blurred as she spun in a circle and belted out the melody in off tune lyrics,

_"Well I woke up this morning and I got myself a beer!"_ she sand along to Jim Morrison and the Doors. At the break between lyrics, she grabbed a long neck Brau beer off the counter top and took a swig. _"Well I woke up this morning and I got myself a beer!"_ she yanked open the refrigerator and pulled out the whipped cream, kicking the door shut behind herself and continuing to sing, _"The future's uncertain and the end is always near! Always near!"_ she started spraying creamy delight on her ice cream as she really got into the chorus, _"Let it roll baby roll! Let it roll, baby roll! Let it roll, baby roll! Let it roooolllll-"_ she finally saw Arsenal standing there and let out a scream as she hurled the whipped cream at him.

The red haired Titan deftly reached up and caught the spray can with a baffled look on his face, "What the fuck…_Mia_?"

The song wound down after the last few instrumental notes, and Mia reached over and shut it off without saying anything. She was breathing hard, "For the love of Christ on a fucking stick, Roy… you scared the shit out of me!"

"Watch your fuckin' mouth!" he spit, then thought about that for a second, "Never mind that… what the hell are you… oh, God… Ollie isn't really… with a kid?" he looked frightened beyond all measure, "Oh no… not even he's that stupid…"

"What?" Mia looked at him in confusion for a moment, then it dawned on her, "Oh. My. God. _Ew!_" she danced in place for a few seconds then shuddered and shook her whole body, "Ugg… how can you even… oh, fucking _ew_!"

They stared at each other for a moment, then they both burst out laughing. After almost a minute of hilarity between them, Roy finally staggered in and sat on a kitchen stool. He eyed her critically for a moment as he wiped tears from his eyes, then nodded, "I can't believe I didn't put two and two together before now… you're the new me, huh?"

She blushed a little, "Really, we didn't think you'd be coming back, and-"

"No… let me talk first…" Arsenal kicked around thoughts for a moment, then spoke again, "At first I was pissed, you know? I mean, like ungodly pissed. I thought Ollie had just replaced me and… well, anyway. Then I thought about it. I'm not Speedy any more. I'm Arsenal now, and I'm with the Titans… I'm not out here helping Green Arrow keep the streets of Star City clean any more. And he can't do it alone. He _can't_.

"So it's not such a bad thing… that you're here. I'd just wished I could have gotten to know you before all of this… and I'm hoping we can correct that little problem tonight."

"Oh… uh…" Mia arched an eyebrow at him, "What'd you have in mind?"

Roy grinned, "Let's get the Sorry board out and we'll talk about it."

* * *

Roy and Mia were still sitting at the kitchen counter, both of them with bowls of ice cream in front of them now, and a lively game of Sorry raging between them. They were laughing a little as Roy spoke, "… and then everything went to hell… the zombie attack, Nightwing's faked death, the disbandment of the Titans… we were at our wits end for months." 

Mia nodded, "I can't imagine it was easy for you."

"Yeah…" Roy picked up the beer sitting next to him and took a swig, "About the only good things that came out of the whole experience for me were Raven and Kylee."

Her own beer in hand, Mia pointed at him with a smile, "I still can't believe that. After everything Ollie's told me about you and you're raising a teenager?"

"She's barely a teenager. Hell, you're only two years older than she is…"

"Still, it's not exactly like you."

"Growing up will do funny things to you. Personally I think Raven's been reprogramming my brain or something… or at least withholding sex if I don't do what she wants me to…"

Mia giggled and flipped another card. "Ha! Sorry!"

"Damn…" Roy watched as she kicked one of his pawns back to its home. "So tell me about you, Mia. I mean, you know like, everything about me."

She frowned and looked away, "My life hasn't been… I mean…"

Roy frowned as well, "Hey…" he reached out and used one finger to pull her chin around and tilt her head up so she would look at him, "What is it? I promise I wont judge, Mia."

She took a deep breath and tears started to sting her eyes, "My mom died a few years after I was born. My dad… was a drunk. He drank himself to death four years ago. At least that stopped him from beating me…" she shook her head as tears started trailing down her face, "I was homeless… had no where to go, no where to stay… the system didn't want me, and I'd been raised to distrust it anyway, so… I survived."

Roy reached out and grabbed one of her free hands, "Don't hold back, Mia. Remember, you're Speedy now… that makes you my little sister."

She looked him in the eye as she continued, "I hooked up with a pimp. Started turning tricks when I was thirteen, did it until I was fourteen. Guys like it better when a young hooker is high off her ass, so I did a lot of weed… cocaine, mushrooms, speed, X… even tried LSD once."

Roy squeezed her hand and she squeezed back, "I didn't believe in God after that. I didn't believe in anything until this guy with a mask and a bow dressed like Robin Hood kicked in my door one night and beat the hell out of the john I was with… and took me out of there… he brought me to the Center and gave me some place to stay while I kicked all my habits. While I was there I picked up a bow just like his and started fooling around with it. Turns out I was pretty good. He saw what I could do, and after just a few months I was shooting fast and on target. A few months after that I was Speedy." She sniffed and wiped at her wet blue eyes, "And that's… the sad story of Mia Dearden."

Roy shook his head, "My God… you came out of all that still able to function… and not just function but to be a hero… a damn good one at that, with a killer name… you are good aren't you?"

"Saved your but tonight, didn't I?"

"Heh… yeah, you did."

"So…"

"So what?" Roy leaned back and stretched, "Mia, I'm dating a girl whose father is basically Satan, and one of my closest friends used to be an international terrorist. You had a tough life… not a bad one."

"So you don't hate me?"

"Can't hate your little sister." Roy grinned and stood up, grabbing his coat, "Ollie'll be back soon… I'd better jet."

"Didn't you come here to talk to him?"

"Yeah, but it turns out talking to you was better." As he slipped his armored coat back over his shoulders and put his ruby shades on his face, Arsenal reached into a pouch on his belt, and pulled out a brand new T-Comp. He held it up for her to see, "It also turns out that Speedy doesn't have one of these… and last I checked, Speedy was a Titan." He held it out to her, "Take it, Mia. It's yours, and you're on the team. No trials necessary."

"Really?" she reached out and took it, "Wow… this is… wow."

"Glad you like it. Don't be shy about using it either… if you need help, call. We'll be here as quickly as we can."

"Okay…" she looked up at him, "Thanks Roy… do you think Ollie will be mad?"

"Feh… just do the same thing I did when I joined the Titans."

"What's that?"

"I just didn't tell him until he found out on his own." Arsenal winked, "See ya around, Sis." And he was out the door and gone.

* * *

Arsenal climbed back into his hotel room with a sigh. Shutting the window and the curtains, he pulled off his shades and his jacket and tossed them aside. As he started on the rest of his clothes, he made his way to the bathroom. 

Fifteen minutes later, a showered and sleepy Roy Harper crawled into bed. He'd had a long night, and he was sore from some of the hits he'd taken. Now all he wanted to do was sleep until tomorrow night. He had work to do then. Work that had nothing to do with beating up bad guys.

"Hope you're ready for some change, Ollie. It's gonna' come fast…"

Roy drifted off to sleep before he could form any plans.

* * *

The next night was cold and crisp. The sky was clear, and the moon was hardly past its fist quarter, giving enough light to mug by, but not enough to be seen too well. 

The perfect conditions for crime.

"I can't believe you drank four beers last night." Green Arrow murmured aside to the girl next to him.

Speedy rolled her eyes, "Are you still on that? I'm fine, Ollie. I drank more than that when I was twelve."

"Mia…"

"I know, I know… look, I just wanted a little bit of a buzz, okay? If you don't want me drinking, lock the stuff up."

"You know I don't mind you having a few beers… just don't go overboard."

Speedy shoved him, "Says the man who polishes off a six pack by himself without sharing any."

Green Arrow rolled his eyes this time, "Shut up, kid. Just watch the doors."

"Do you really think they'll be back here tonight?" she asked. They were sitting inside the gym that the drugs had been stored at the night before. Green Arrow had them staking it out from the inside because he seemed positive they'd come back.

"Yeah." He nodded, and pointed to a wall panel that looked loose, "I checked it out last night. They left two bags of smack in there… it doesn't seem like much, but it's-"

"A few thousand dollars, I know." Speedy poked him again, "I used to buy the stuff, Ollie. Give me some credit."

"I don't… Mia, you know…"

"Christ." She shook her head, "Are you still going to be all weird about that?"

"I'm sorry… I just want to do everything I can for you so that you can live a normal life, and-"

Speedy laughed, "Do you think putting a bow in my hand and giving me a costume constitutes a normal life?"

"Uh…"

"You're such an idiot."

"As opposed to who? You?"

"Naw, I'm an idiot too… maybe someone like… Batman."

"Everyone's an idiot next to Batman. Try again."  
"Fine. Roy."

"Roy? You've barely even talked to Roy."

Speedy blinked behind her mask and swore under her breath, "Uh… he stopped by the house last night… we talked."

"What?" Green Arrow looked at her with his mouth open, "When?"

"Before you got home, obviously."

"What… I mean…"

"We just got to know each other. He told me about his past, and I… told him about mine. We connected." Speedy smiled, "He's a really nice guy."

Green Arrow growled, "So I get a punch in the mouth and you get hit on by a guy way too old for you."

She laughed again, "Ollie! He didn't hit on me. We just talked and… he called me 'Little Sis.'" She sobered up, "It's the first time anyone's ever called me sister."

Green Arrow sighed, "Yeah… he has way of just doing things that mean so much to you, and he doesn't even think twice about it… he's just like that."

She kicked her next words around in her head. Should she be just like the old Speedy? No, her first loyalty was to Green Arrow. She should tell him everything.

"He gave me a T-Comp." she whispered.

"What?" Green Arrow looked at her, "What the hell is a T-Comp."

She pulled out her com and showed him, "He made me a Titan."

Anger suddenly clouded his face and he opened his mouth to say something, but right then, the doors of the gym opened and they both had to duck down behind the weight bench they were hiding behind to keep from being seen. "We'll talk about this later." He whispered. Speedy nodded her eyes on the two huge men who had just walked in.

They were obviously metas, judging by the abnormal size of their muscles. Neither of them seemed to have any guns, but they both looked like they could rip phone books in half all day and still have the energy to kick your puppy to death.

"What do you want to do?" Speedy whispered.

"Well, you're the big bad Titan… what would you suggest?"

Speedy rolled her eyes behind her mask again, "Fine. You go for the drugs and back me up. I'm gonna go throw cowboy on those too mooks."

"Okay… wait, throw what?"

"Throw cowboy. You know, bust a bold move?"

"Excuse me?"

"I'm gonna shoot 'em and beat 'em up."

"Uh…"

"Back me up!" she shouted as she jumped from behind the weights. She rolled and came up with her bow out, firing off four arrows in rapid succession. All four were true and both bruisers had an arrow in each shoulder within seconds. They howled in pain as Speedy made it up to the first of them and swung her bow like a baseball bat, slapping him aside.

Green Arrow stood up and ran to the middle of the room as Speedy engaged the second meta. They were obviously not as big as the one they'd fought the night before, but she was still half his size, and even though she was hitting him and he was missing her, she would tire long before he did.

Just as he was about to pull his bow and start firing arrows, Arsenal stepped up next to him, "Hey Old Man."

Green Arrow jumped a little and stared at him, "When did you get so damn quiet?"

"Dick taught me." The red haired young man shrugged, "Sorry I hit you, by the way. It was uncalled for."

"Yeah… look, we kind of have this thing going down right now-"

"Hey, is that Mia throwing cowboy on those two mooks?" Arsenal pulled out a night stick, "Sweet."

"Yeah, that's… wait a second, what did you just say?"

Arsenal winked at him over the top of his shades, "You gonna get a piece of this or what?" and he charged into the fray.

Green Arrow stared for a second, then grumbled to himself as he slung his bow back over his shoulder and charged in.

Speedy was dodging punches from the meta she was fighting, and didn't see the second one coming up behind her. He grabbed her cloak and yanked her back, then tossed her into the wall with enough force to crack the plaster. She slid to the ground with a moan and shook her head to regain her senses.

"That's no way to treat a young lady, you bastard." Arsenal commented mildly as he ran up behind the man who had tossed Speedy and cracked him over the head in the same place his Little Sister had just minutes before. As he fell to the side again, Green Arrow charged past his adopted son and slugged the second meta in the face, toppling him.

The two men looked at each other and grinned.

The two metahuman bruisers both howled with rage and were back up in a moments notice. As they closed in, the two heroes stood back to back and put up their dukes.

Explosive arrows hit and blew the two attackers back a few steps. Arsenal and Green Arrow looked over to see Speedy with her bow up, stringing another arrow, "Come on, guys! Stop playing and let's finish this!"

"Girls got a point." Arsenal said to his mentor, and pulled one of his guns.

"Guess so." Green Arrow pulled out his own bow and drew an arrow.

All three of them aimed at the dazed metas and grinned.

The metas looked back and their eyes grew wide.

The sound of explosions and gun fire echoed out on the streets for several minutes.

* * *

Arsenal hugged Green Arrow on top of the building they'd busted the goons in, and grinned when he pulled away, "It was good to see you again, Ollie." 

"Good to fight with you again." He nodded and grinned back, "I'm glad you and Mia are getting along."

"Getting along?" he laughed, "We're so much alike it's uncanny."

She giggled from where she stood next to them, watching the cops clean up down below, "You guys are cute."

"Don't call us cute, brat." Arsenal swatted her. She hit him back.

"So… are you headed back to Jump then?" Green Arrow asked.

"Yeah…" Arsenal looked up at the sky, "Kylee is great at what she does, and she has the rest of the Teen Titans to help her out, but I still worry."

G.A.'s face suddenly clouded again, "I'm still angry about that."

"What, Kylee?" Arsenal looked confused for a second.

"I told him." Speedy said, turning to them.

Arsenal sighed, "Figured you would. Look, Ollie-"

"She's not ready." He accused, pointing a finger at his ward, "She's barely been on the streets here for four months! She's not ready for world crushers like Slade and psychos like Killer Moth!"

"She's good, Ollie." Arsenal shook his head, "And even if you don't think she's ready, that doesn't mean she doesn't get the com. Speedy is a Teen Titan. That's how is."

"This isn't your call, Roy."

"It's my namesake." He replied in a cold voice, "She's my legacy, as much as I'm yours." Arsenal took a step forward, "If she ever wants to come to the Tower, you'll let her, you hear me? I don't want her calling me and telling me you've forbidden her from participating with the Titans."

"Or what?" Green Arrow got up in his wards face, "What'll you do, Roy?"

"Hey now!" Speedy tried to step between them, "Calm down, both of you!"

"I'll tell you what I'll do…" Arsenal growled.

"Yeah? What?"

"Stop it!"

"I'll do something so bad…"

"I'm waiting to hear it, punk!"

"You two! Cut it out!"  
"I'll-"

"You'll what?"

"Roy! Ollie!"

Arsenal shoved Mia aside, and put a finger right up in Green Arrow's face, "I'll tell Black Canary that you told me you prefer red heads and you're only using her to get close to Babs."

Green Arrow stared at him with his mouth open for a moment. Speedy looked confused, "Who the hell is Babs?"

"Don't worry about it." Arsenal grinned.

G.A. stared for a moment more, then burst out laughing. He and his son howled with laughter for several minutes while Speedy just glared at them.

"Who the hell is Babs?" she shouted.

Both men replied in unison, "Don't worry about it."

"Like hell!"

"Feh… get out of here Roy. She can be a Titan."

"Teen Titan, I think. At least until she's older."

"I'm fifteen! Almost sixteen!"

"Then you're the oldest Teen Titan." Arsenal shrugged as he wiped tears from his eyes from laughing so hard, "You'll like the others, trust me."

"… Fine." She folder her arms over her chest and glared, "I still want to know who Babs is."

"Maybe some day." Green Arrow shook his head, "We'll see you around, Roy."

"Sure thing." He nodded and fired off a grappler to swing away on. Reaching out, he hugged Speedy with one arm, "You be safe, Sis."

"You too." She pecked him on the cheek and he grinned before he swung away.

Green Arrow and Speedy stood in silence for several moments before the elder hero spoke, "Did you tell him about the-"

"No." she shook her head, "And I'm not going to until I have to."

"Do you think that's wise?"

"It's my call."

He was silent for a time, then nodded, "Okay, Mia. Now let's go find some gang bangers to thump."

She grinned, "Sweet."

* * *

Arsenal crouched on top of a building a few miles away, and pulled out his T-Comp. Flipping it open, he punched up a com window. 

A few moment later, an out of breath Kylee answered, _"Seraph here. Oh! What's up Arsenal?"_

"Working?" he arched an eyebrow.

_"Impulse and I just chased down a guy who robbed an ATM. You know how it is keeping up with a speedster." _

Arsenal rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I used to work with a couple of 'em. You guys doing okay out there?"

_"Just fine. The Teen Titans are kicking ass and taking names."_ She grinned, then looked off screen,_"Impulse! Just tie them up!"_

_"Aw!"_ his voice carried, _"But Robin-"_

_"Robin hangs them upside down because it's a Bat-Thing! Just secure them and call the police!" _

_"Fine, fine…"_

She looked back at the screen, _"Sorry."_

"Don't sweat it. Hey, would you kids be disappointed it an old timer like me butted in?"

_"Why? I thought you'd be gone for awhile_." She frowned, _"You didn't fight with Green Arrow did you?"_

"Only a little. It turns out I finished up here sooner than I thought I would though, and I added a new member to our roster already."

_"Really? Who?"_

"There's a new Speedy. She's really good."

_"A new you huh?"_ Seraph grinned, _"I don't know if the world can handle that…"_

"You'll find out when you meet her. I'm thinking about inviting her out to the Tower next month."

_"Awesome! Will she be a Teen Titan with us?"_

"She's a little older than the lot of you, but yeah. For now."

_"I can't wait!"_ Seraph giggled, _"So you're coming home then?"_

"Sure am. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon."

_"We'll be expecting you then."_ She nodded, then frowned as she pushed some more buttons on her com. With a sigh, she looked back to him, _"Blackfire just handed us a case, Arsenal. I have to go." _

"Heh. Listen to you, sounding all professional." He grinned with pride, "I'll see you soon. Arsenal out."

_"Right on. Seraph out."_ And she cut the connection.

Arsenal sat back on his heels as he looked back up at the night sky, "It's all coming together now." He said. Standing up, he fired off his wrist grappler again and swung off into the night.

* * *

Closing Notes – Look for the next one as soon as I write it. Please review! 

Next Time – Chicago Nights: Omen


	8. Chicago Nights Omen

Jump City Symphony

A Teen Titans Fan Fiction by Jacob McDonald

Opening Notes – Oh… you know. Bla bla, I sure hope I get the time to write more soon, bla-buh-bla-bla… Seriously, I'm stressed beyond all reason with work and school starting in a month (only two semesters left!) trying to find an agent for my publishable writing, and on top of all that, my wife and I just bought a house. Yeah, 'cause I needed the added stress of lawn mowing and roof repair, right?

Standard disclaimers apply. I don't own Teen Titans.

* * *

_**Chicago Nights – Omen**_

_**

* * *

  
**_

Lilith Clay stepped out into the cold night air of Chicago and sighed in relief as she pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket. Quickly pulling one out and lighting it, she put it to her lips and took a deep drag. Looking back behind her she muttered, "Stupid… O'Hare Airport no smoking policies…"

As she turned back forward she was suddenly aware of Raven standing right next to her on the side she hadn't been turned to. Lilith jumped a little and curse, "Don't do that!"

"Then stop smoking. It's bad for you." Raven frowned at her.

"Please." Lilith rolled her eyes, "You're so not going to mother me and hen peck me this whole trip are you?"

"Of course not. But if we're going to be team mates then you're going to have to learn to get along with me, and if you're going to get along with me then you have to take better care of yourself."

Lilith sighed as she ashed her cigarette on the ground, "First of all, I'm not going to be your team mate. You offered to teach me how to control my powers, and I accepted. I said I'd think about joining the Titans after that." She glared, "Second of all, smoking is my one vice, aside from kinky sex. But I don't count that one."

"Heh." Raven shrugged, "Right."

Lilith laughed a little, "What? You're not going to rag on me about having sex with guys who are practically strangers without using any protection?" she waggled her eye brows and leered at Raven in a suggestive manner.

Raven grinned right back, "Why would I? It's not like I haven't done the same thing in the past." As Lilith's mouth dropped open and she dropped her cigarette, Raven turned to see a man pushing a cart towards them, "Oh look, here's our luggage. Be a dear and hail a cab, would you Lilith?"

* * *

"So what's the move here, anyway?" Lilith asked as she and Raven sat in the back seat of the cab that was driving them to their hotel.

"We get checked in to the hotel and relax." Raven shrugged, "It's kind of late to start any kind of real training tonight."

"Training…" Lilith winced, "You make it sound like I'm going to be running laps and doing push ups."

Raven looked at her.

Lilith frowned and shook her head, "No. Hell no. You said you'd help me control my powers, not try to make me the next Titan!"

"Lilith, physical training is part of it. You have to master your body if you're going to master your mind."

"Not this mind. I just need to know how to shut it off and turn it on. That's it."

"I don't know how to teach you that. What I can do is teach you how to control it and use it. With that will come greater peace of mind."

"You told me-"

"You're getting agitated Lilith… calm down."

"No! You lied to me!"

"I told you I'd help you control your powers."

"You didn't say anything about _using_ them though!"

Raven frowned, "It's kind of a package deal."

"You're a real bitch, you know that?"

"Lilith-"

"Shut up! I don't want to hear it!"

"Seriously, if you don't calm down your powers will-"

"I said shut up!" Lilith screamed.

_Man that girl is a bitch._

"What did you just say?" Lilith swung her head around and glared at the taxi driver. He glanced back at her and blinked a little.

"I didn't say anything, Miss."

_And crazy… why do I always get the crazy ones?_

Lilith stared. His lips hadn't moved. "No… oh no…"

_She's hot though… I wouldn't mind sticking it in her-_

"Don't even think that pal." Lilith growled.

"What?" He glanced back at her even more confused.

"Stop, Lilith." Raven told her, "He doesn't even realize he's thinking what he is. You have to understand the nature of your powers before we can begin to refine them."

"Is she reading my mind?" the cab driver sounded freaked out.

"Unfortunately… and there she goes." Raven watched as Lilith's eyes grew wide.

Suddenly there were voices filling her head… hundreds of them. Thousands. People thinking about work, about what they were going to do that night, about lovers and enemies, about love and hate, about right and wrong, about life and about-

Lilith looked out the window and gasped, "There's someone out there who's going to kill his wife!"

"Who?" Raven asked calmly.

"I don't know! I just heard him thinking it… he's going to… oh God…" she grabbed the door handle and shouted, "I have to find her and warn her! I have to-"

Raven's ice cold fingers were suddenly on her temples, "Sleep, Lilith." She said.

And Lilith slept.

* * *

When she woke, the red haired young woman was lying in a large, comfy bed in a richly decorated hotel room. Moaning, she sat up and looked around. It seemed nicely furnished… better than any hotel room she'd ever stayed in before anyway.

Getting up, she glanced at the bedside clock and saw it was just after two in the morning. She was still wearing her jeans and t-shirt from the flight in to Chicago, but her sneakers and socks had been removed.

The room she was in was the bedroom area of a two room suite, and she could hear the TV from the sitting room. Padding over, she walked in and looked around until she saw Raven. The dark haired girl was curled up on the couch, reading a book while she sipped a mug of tea. She wasn't even paying attention to the TV.

"You're awake I see." She stated as she sat her mug down and marked her place in her book.

"Yeah… how did you make my powers stop freaking out like that?"

"I put you to sleep." Raven shrugged, "You turned yourself off after that."

"Oh… I… there was a woman in danger… did you help her?"

Raven sighed and sat her book aside. "Sit down, Lilith." She motioned to a chair. Lilith sat and watched as Raven struggled with her thoughts for a moment, then spoke, "My powers… aren't like yours. I'm an empath. I sense emotions and feelings, and I can manipulate them to an extent. While I am developing trace amounts of telepathy as I grow older, I don't have nearly the capacity for it that you do. Even if I had left the cab and started looking, there was very little chance I'd have been able to find the man who was going to kill his wife."

"So… you just let him go?"

"Lilith, there are almost three million people living in the greater Chicago area… it would have been impossible. Plus I had you to worry about."

"But… I sensed him! It couldn't have been far!"

"That's just it… we don't know the range of your telepathy yet. Or the scope of how far ahead in time your visions extend. Or how much control you have over the minds of others… we need to test your limits, and work on refining your focus so you can direct your powers how you want them to work."

Lilith was silent as she stared off at the TV. The local news had just come on. The top story was about a man who'd viciously stabbed his wife to death just five hours earlier.

"When do we start?" she whispered.

"In the morning. Let's get some sleep for now." Raven stood up, "Come on… the sleep spell I used on you should still have you drowsy."

"Yeah…" Lilith stood up and they walked to the bedroom.

* * *

_"Lilith!" Raven shouted, "Hold on! I'm coming for you!"_

_"Raven…" she muttered back, "No… its okay… I've seen this…"_

_"Lilly, don't move! Stay right where you are and I'll get you!"_

_She looked down to her side and saw her own hand lift up. It was stained red. The rock next to her head was covered in the same bright red liquid, "Wow…" she murmured, "That's a lot of blood…"_

_"Shit, shit, shit!" Raven cursed, "Lilly, I can't get to you directly. I'll have to go up and around. Just hold tight!"_

_She nodded weakly, but didn't really hear Raven's words. Dropping her hand, she looked straight ahead as a bright light seemed to zoom towards her. She smiled. Ah… so this was what the end felt like._

_Her eyes widened a little more, "Raven… I'm there… I'm… here…"_

_

* * *

  
_

Lilith sat up with a start. Looking around frantically, she finally placed herself as being in the hotel room she and Raven were staying in. The dark haired empath slowly sat up in the other queen sized bed and looked over at Lilith with blurry eyes. Her hair was a mess and the white tank top she wore drooped off one shoulder.

"What did you see?" she muttered as she rubbed sleep from her eyes.

"I saw… I don't know. There was… you were there and you were freaking out… I think I might have been hurt." Lilith looked scared.

"Hmm." Raven nodded, "Visions of that nature can be disturbing." She looked over at the clock, "Let's get up and get cleaned up. We should hit the gym before it gets too crowded."

Lilith nodded and glanced at the clock as well. It was just past six. Shaking her head, the red haired woman swung her legs out of bed and headed for the shower.

* * *

Raven was pumping her legs and arms on the elliptical right next to Lilith, sweating lightly as she increased her pace. Lilith was sweating like a pig and huffing as her hair stuck to her moist forehead.

"How… the hell… are you doing this?" she demanded of her workout partner.

"Aside from the rigorous police training I went though not long ago?" Raven arched an eyebrow at her friend, "Robin drills us just about every day. It's not all fun and games when you're a Titan."

"Sure." Lilith huffed, then concentrated on her workout. After a moment, Raven spoke again.

"Try something for me." She ordered, "Just concentrate on your body as you stress it. Try to feel a sense of oneness with yourself. Ignore the rest of the room… it's just you. I'm not even here… just you."

Lilith wanted to roll her eyes, but for some reason she found herself following orders. She gradually began to let go and feel just herself. The burning in her legs from the stair climbing motion, the pressure in her lungs from the air being forced in and out of them, the coolness on her skin where the sweat was beading and the AC was blowing air across it… Into this oneness came Raven's voice in her mind.

_Good… now if you can hear me, I want you to expand that singular awareness away from yourself until you can feel me too. I'll try to help, so it should be easier your first time._

Again, Lilith followed directions and tried to feel all the sensations of her body, and also the sensations happening just beyond it. After a few minutes, she began to push her awareness out until she could feel the tingling of another mind at the edges of hers. Pushing a little more, she found she was hearing Raven's thoughts.

_Good. That was very good. Feel my body now too. Feel everything about me._

Lilith did. She began to mumble, "Your back hurts… the sports bra only helps so much. You're cold… colder than you should be, but that doesn't bother you. Why?"

_I'm part demon. My body temperature is naturally lower than yours._

"Oh. Your feet are sweaty though, because your socks are too thick. There's a scar on your left shoulder, and some on your arms… zombies?"  
_Yes. _

"Also… a scar on your soul… some… blackness."

_My demon essence. My Father's legacy._

"Right." Lilith pushed more, "You're worried about Kylee… and you want to sleep next to Roy again… who's Roy?"

_Arsenal._

_Oh. You call him Jason._

_It's his middle name. He's been opening up more lately though, accepting his parent' death and getting in touch with his past. _

_That's so sad. My parents are gone too. _

_Most of us are orphans. Only Robin and Bart still have parents, but Robin can't tell his father who he is, and Impulse's mother lives in the 31__st__ Century._

_Wild. I… I'm not talking. I'm thinking and you're hearing me._

_We're connected. Do you want to try to push further? I can try to help._

Lilith considered it for a moment. _Yes._

_Okay. Push out. Find the other people in the room. Don't use your eyes, just find their minds._

Lilith did. She pushed and felt a kind of bubble around herself. When she made it larger, she could feel more. Hear more. Wrapping it around a leggy blonde in the corner who was working her abs, she heard more thoughts.

_… those two on the ellipticals. How does the red head have such great abs? And her ass is awesome! The one with purple hair is pretty hot too… I'd kill to have a body like that._

_She has a great body!_ Lilith thought at Raven.

_Yes. But she works hard for it and we hardly look like we're trying. And your ass is pretty awesome._

"Heh." Lilith laughed a little out loud and focused on a slightly cubby man at the weigh bench.

_Wonder if she'd want to have lunch? I mean, what's the point of these business trips away from my wife if I can't get a little action now and then? Maybe not her, but the goth chick looks like she might be a bit more lonely… easier to get in bed…_

Lilith frowned. _Is everyone in here thinking about us?_

_Yes._ Raven replied, and Lilith felt a smile in her voice. _We're smokin' hot._

"Gag." Lilith stopped her workout and turned to Raven, "I get enough of this while I'm dancing. Let's move on."

"Sure." Raven nodded, "And Lilith? That was very good for your first time."

The red head blushed a little, "Thanks."

* * *

After the two young women were showered and they had gotten a bite to eat at the hotel restaurant, Raven declared it was time to take a walk. Lilith went with the flow and followed the young sorceress out on to the busy streets of Chicago, both of them bundled in two sweaters to ward off the cold.

"So why are we taking a walk?" she asked her mentor.

Raven smiled, "You have to get used to using your focus to block out unwanted thoughts and visions. I'm more or less taking a rough and tumble way of doing that."

"How's that?" Lilith looked worried.

Raven grinned in an evil manner as she reached out and touched the red head's temple with one finger, "By turning you on and letting you learn how to shut yourself off while we're in the middle of the Chicago lunch rush."

Lilith was suddenly bombarded with the thoughts of everyone around her and Raven. As they were walking on an extremely busy sidewalk downtown there were quite a few minds hers was touching. She hissed as the pain of it crashed into her head.

"What the hell did you do to me?"

Raven's reply was quick and sharp, "I opened up your psychic thresholds all the way. Concentrate Lilith! The same thing you did this morning to intentionally grab other people's thoughts applies here as well, just in reverse. Find your center, but instead of pushing your awareness out, bring it in and shield your mind with it."

Lilith reached up and clutched her head, "Raven! I can't!"

"Yes you can! Focus!"

Taking two deep breaths, Lilith focused. She began to ignore the pain as the babble of voices in her head grew maddeningly loud in volume. She found the warmth in the depths of her body and focused on her own heartbeat. She slowly began to build that warmth into a tangible feeling that she could wrap around herself, much like the awareness bubble she had felt that morning.

It took her several tries, but soon she had the bubble wrapped around her own mind, blocking everything else out. She basked in the silence for a few moments before turning to Raven again, "That was a mean trick, Rae."

Raven shrugged and took a bite of her cake.

Lilith blinked, "Um… what the hell?"

"We stopped at a café almost an hour ago. I sat you down and ordered you some coffee. You should try this chocolate cake though… it's divine."

Lilith looked around and saw that they were indeed sitting at a small table outside a café. She blinked back at Raven then lifted her coffee to her lips and sipped it. It was barely warm.

"How long was I… um… focusing?"

"Almost three hours. I held your arm and walked you around for two of those. Then I got hungry, so I stopped us here."

"That… you… what the fuck, Rae?"

Raven shrugged again, "It takes time to learn how to do these things, Lilith. When I was learning losing focus would mean that a building or two would be destroyed. You don't have the power backlash that I do though, so throwing you into the deep end was the best way for you to learn. Trust me when I say that it'll be easier from now on."

Lilith growled anyway, "You're a real bitch, you know?"

"I'm not here to endear myself to you. I'm here to teach you how to deal with your powers. It's hard. It's not fun. It actually kind of sucks sometimes. But it'll _help_ you in the end."

"I don't need this right now… I'm just so…" she searched for a word to describe how furious she was with Raven for pushing her into that kind of pain and madness without warning but couldn't because her head was still pounding, "I'm pissed." She finally settled on.

"I understand. But there's more to do still, so keep your focus and drink something. You'll need the boost to your mental awareness to-"

"No." Lilith growled, "I'm done with you for now. I'll see you back at the room later tonight."

"What?" Raven looked honestly surprised, "Lilith, you can't just wander off in the middle of Chicago. Where will you go?"

"I'm a big girl. Older than you, in case you've forgotten. I have my ID, and I'm going to a bar. I'm going to drink myself stupid and forget about this little stunt you pulled and maybe… maybe, I'll have forgiven you by tomorrow."

With that she stood up and stomped off, her long read hair flipping as she went.

Raven sighed and looked back down at her cake. "Stupid girl." She muttered.

* * *

Two hours latter Lilith was sitting in the corner of a bar by herself, sipping a rather strong gin and tonic. It was her fifth, and she couldn't exactly remember the name of the place she was in, but the buzzing in her head was dying down, and she was able to let her mental defense slip a little.

She'd been flicking her awareness out to listen to people for the past half hour or so, grudgingly admitting that maybe Raven had the right idea when it came to teaching her because, honestly, turning her powers on and off was much easier now. As she mused to herself, she poked at the mind of a guy sitting at the bar watching a hockey game.

_ Come on, come on!_ He was thinking, _Stupid Wings! They win every damn game they play these days… What the hell is this… _He reached down and pulled out his cell phone. Flipping it open, he read something and flipped it shut. _Fuckin'… if the bitch can't learn to use the damn computer, why'd she blow a thousand dollars on the laptop? Why did I even marry that stupid cunt? Seriously! _His thoughts trailed off into a series of complaints and he gulped back his beer with surprising ferocity. Lilith pulled away from him and shook her head, focusing instead on a twenty-something girl sitting at a table with a man who looked to be about ten years older than her.

She was talking to him about some kind of investment strategy for the business firm they both worked for, but her thoughts were completely different. Lilith found this strange duality fascinating about people.

_…wonder if he's really faithful? I could get a leg up if I can get him to sleep with me… either he'll feel he owes me a favor, or I can blackmail him by threatening to tell his wife…_

"What a bitch." Lilith muttered.

"Who is?" asked a young man who slid into a seat across the table from her.

The red haired young woman blinked at him. He was about six feet tall, good looking, and he wore designer clothes. Not the kind of guy you'd expect to see at a downtown bar on a Tuesday night.

"Who the hell are you and what the fuck do you want?" she asked in a clipped tone.

He arched an eyebrow, "My name is Peter Thorp, I'm a movie producer, and I'd like you to be in a film."

She blinked at him, then burst out laughing. He just smiled at her and after a moment, she decided to poke at his mind. As she calmed herself down, she read his surface thoughts.

Her eyes widened, "Holy shit, you're not lying!"

"Nope." He smiled wider.

"Huh." She decided to dig deeper. Ah, of course.

"You want me to be in a porno?"

"I'm not exactly that kind of producer…"

"You make movies where girl take off their clothes and have sex with one of your paid actors. How are you not exactly a porn producer?"

"Um…"

She rolled her eyes, "Look, I know you think I'm hot and drunk, and you're right. I am hot, and I am drunk. But I'm also a meta. I can read your mind, so you can't really lie to me."

"You can read my mind?" he grinned, "What number am I thinking of?"

"72,875." She replied without blinking, "It was your taxable income last year. And you had Special K for breakfast because you want to watch your weight because your sister told you she thought you had gained a few pounds last time you had to go over to her place and break up a fight between her and her husband before it got physical."

His eyes widened and she shook her head, "Damnit." She ground her teeth, "I hate doing that."

He slowly stood up, backed away from her and walked away.

Lilith sighed. She didn't feel much like getting wasted any more.

* * *

Drunk and alone, Lilith wove a not exactly straight path along the mostly deserted sidewalks of Michigan Avenue, winding her way back to the hotel. She stared out at the black roiling expanse of Lake Michigan with a bit of awe. Her mental shields were firmly in place despite her inebriated state, so she was able to take in the full majesty of the large body of water from within the peaceful confines of her own mind.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" whispered a soft but familiar voice from right in front of her. The red haired beauty looked up and saw Raven there.

"How did you find me?"

Raven replied in the same soft voice, her eyes never leaving the lake, "I'm not limited to just detecting your mind. Even though it's shielded from me right now, I can still seek out the… presence of those I'm close to."

"My presence?"

Raven considered for a moment, "Your soul, I suppose." Her violet eyes blinked once, "I have a much stronger connection to Jinx actually. She's been very frustrated these past few days."

"Isn't she in Gotham with Nightwing?"

"Mmhm." Raven nodded absently, but gave no sign of intending to continue their conversation. Lilith shrugged and looked back out at the lake.

"It's like the ocean back home." She muttered, "But it feels wrong some how."

"No salt on the air." Raven replied, "Lake Michigan is all fresh water."

"It smells… good. More pure, but still… it stinks." Lilith wrinkled her nose, "Does that make any sense at all?"

"Of course. Why do you ask?"  
"I'm just… I'm questioning so much about myself and my life these days… do I really want to keep dancing? Should I try and go back to school? Should I go find that guy and tell him I'll do the porn movie?"

"I'll recommend against going into porn." A shadow presented itself on Raven's cheek. It took Lilith a moment to figure out she was barely smiling.

"Sure." The red head smiled and looked back out at the water. She thought about her life for a moment, and all the things that could happen. She heard Raven whispering almost right in her ear then, and her thoughts narrowed.

"Focus on what you're feeling… seeing into the future is an uncertain thing Lilith, as it's fueled by emotion, not mental powers. Find your own future. Search your heart." Lilith did so. It came to her surprisingly easy, considering all the work she had had to put into her mental shield. She simply looked inward, and she saw. Raven's voice was barely audible now, "What do you see?"

"I see darkness." Lilith whispered back, "I see so much pain and suffering… but I see joy, and life and light and... oh, Raven…" a tear trailed down her face, "I see what could be… what is coming… I see…" she snapped back to reality, "I see the Titans."

"What?" Raven's voice was sharp now, louder, "Lilly, tell me what you saw."

Lilith turned her own green eyes to Raven's purple ones, hers still a little out of focus, "He's going to die."

Then Lilith saw something she'd never seen before, even though she'd only known Raven for a short time. Raven was scared. The psion whispered, "Who?"

"I… I don't know." Lilith shook her head, "It's gone now."

Raven sighed. "Great." She muttered.

Lilith stared at her for a long moment, "You called me Lilly."

"Hmm?" Raven looked up, "Sorry, do you not like it? I can call you Lilith."

"No one's called me that since my Mom died."

"Oh… I'm sorry… I won't-"

"No! It's okay… you can… you know, if you want to."

Raven blinked back at her then smiled a weary smile, "Thanks. Let's go back to the room… Lilly."

A wave of black energy wrapped around them, and they were gone from the lakeside in a matter of moments.

* * *

The next morning Raven started teaching Lilith meditation. The older girl took to it with surprising ease, and when Raven questioned her on it, she simply replied, "You think I got this body by not doing a lot of yoga?"

After their successful mediation session, they worked out again. Lilith continued to mentally communicate to Raven all the things she was hearing, and Raven continued to mentally chuckle at them. The two of them were getting along much better, a mutual friendship having been formed between them somehow.

So it was with good humor that Lilith posed a question to her friend later that afternoon, "So, Rae… why are we standing on the observation deck of the Sear's Tower with a pair of binoculars?"

Raven smiled back, "Nervous?"

"Terrified is more like it. Are you going to open a window and see if I can fly like you now too?"

"Of course not. You'll never have that power." Raven waved off her concern, "We're going to test the range of your telepathy."

"Ooooh." Lilith grinned, "I've always wanted to do this. Are we gonna sneak looks into people's offices across the way and see if I can tell what they're thinking?"

Raven grinned back, "That's exactly what we're going to do."

Lilith squealed with delight.

Raven handed her the binoculars, "Have it, Tiger."

* * *

An hour later, Lilith still hadn't gotten bored of the game, "And the guy on the thirty-second story of the Hancock Center, ten windows from the left? He's trying to decide if he can get away with having a hooker come up to meet him when he's working after hours tonight!"

"Why do you only tell me about the people that want to have sex?" Raven was sitting next to her as Lilith practically leaned over the guard rail on the observation deck.

"Because they're the interesting ones. Well, except for the guy who was composing the poem… that was pretty cool."

Raven chuckled, "Go further. Turn the magnification on those suckers up to full… you should be able to see the suburbs from here if you do… Robin made those things powerful enough."

Lilith grinned and cranked up the magnification. Raven was right; she could see all the way out to the malls and shopping centers just past downtown. She focused on the small figures of the people moving in and out of a tall building that she placed as a multi-level department store.

"Come on…" she muttered to herself, "What are you thinking?"

And then, faintly, she heard the woman she was aiming at.

_…socks for Hunter and Blake, and Tom's going to need new jeans soon… I wonder if he's gained any weight… he LOOKS like he's still got a 34 waist…"_

"Oh my God…" Lilith whispered, "That has to be…"

Raven took the binoculars from her and checked the gauge, "About five miles away. Pretty good." She smiled and handed them back to her student.

Lilith grinned and started rambling about what she saw, "This guy hates his car… the woman with the really unflattering slacks just met her Weight Watchers goal, good for her! This kid is going to shoplift a few CDs, the guy with the cowboy hat misses Nashville, and the dude in the trench coat…" she trailed off, "Oh… shit… Raven!"

"What? What is it?" Raven stood up and looked off into the distance, even though she couldn't see what Lilith could, "What do you sense?"

"He has a bomb." She whispered, "He's going to take the whole place out."

Raven was suddenly all business, "I'm going, Lilly. It's going to be dangerous." She paused, "I hate to make this so sudden, but… are you in or out?"

Lilith paused as well, for what seemed like an eternity. She had so much to live for; so much she wanted to do. She had talent now. She could help people. She could help…

"I'm in."

* * *

The two women appeared in the parking lot, and started walking for the entrance at once. Lilith shook of the cold, "That teleportation shit is creepy." She muttered.

"Get used to it." Raven replied in a clipped tone. "Can you sense the target?"

"Third floor. He wants to be on the fourth when he blows the bomb… maximizes impact that way."

"So he's done his homework then."

Lilith surprised herself when she replied, "Yes, he has." She shook her head, "I'm really into this guys brain… he thinks this place robbed him of his pension… he's going to make an example out of them… how does that even make sense?"

"Madness rarely makes sense." Raven replied. "I assume he's being casual? Not attracting attention?"

"Right on. He's going to take the elevator to the fourth floor… now."

"Then we take the stairs. Let's go."

* * *

They sprinted up the stairs. Lilith was glad she was in pretty good shape, but was once again reminded just how awesome Raven was. The Titan didn't even seem to be breaking a sweat as she burst out the doors and on to the fourth floor. "Where, Lilith?"

"Middle of the store. That's where he wants to blow it."

"Stay back. I'll take him down."

"I can help."

"By staying back and telling me what he's thinking. Find my mind, talk to me telepathically… it'll be faster that way." Raven started walking to the middle of the store.

"Right." Lilith was suddenly nervous. The man they were hunting was really crazy. He was capable of killing everyone in the building if he set off the bomb, and he-

"Raven, he has a gun." She said. She started to move forward but Raven held up a hand and she stopped

"Duly noted."

And she continued walking without looking back.

_Look into his mind Lilly… tell me what's going to talk him down…_

Lilith looked, _Nothing. His course is set… a surprise might slow him long enough for you to get the trigger device from him though… it's in his left coat pocket._

_What kind of surprise?_

_He doesn't think anyone has noticed him yet…_

_So I let him know someone has._

_Exactly._

Raven made it to the center of the store. The bomber was walking right towards her.

Lilith watched.

* * *

Raven held out a hand as the man made it up to her. He arched an eyebrow at her, "Yes?" he asked, calm as a summer day.

"Give me the trigger device and I won't hurt you." Raven replied in a cold tone, the temperature around her dropping by several degrees.

The man's eyes widened. A full second passed, then a flurry of motion exploded between the two. Raven dove for the man's pocket, hoping to get the trigger before he could think to protect it, and the man jumped back, plunging his hand into coat and yanking a pistol from a shoulder holster. He fired two shots.

Screams erupted all around the store as Lilith shouted in horror, "Raven!"

The Titan girl had jumped back, taking only a grazing shot across her leg. She limped a little, but pressed her attack, grabbing the man's wrists and forcing the gun towards the ceiling. She wrapped her finger around his and started pulling the trigger for him.

"You shouldn't play with these things…" Raven grunted as she struggled with him, counting the shots. The magazine wasn't extra long, so it couldn't have more than-

"Eleven." Raven muttered to herself as she pushed him aside and reached for his pocket once more.

He was fast, but Lilith's thoughts were faster. _Punch coming from your left!_

There was a solid thud as his fist slammed into Raven's side, knocking her down as the air left her lungs.

_YOUR LEFT RAVEN!_

_Stop shouting in my head and let me fight!_

_Use your powers!_

_I AM!_

Black tendrils of energy lanced out and wrapped the man tightly, stopping him from running. Raven stood up slowly, wincing at the pain in her side. She had a bruised rib.

"So much for that." She said as she walked over to him, "Now, I'll take the trigger and you'll-"

His arm shot out and slapped Raven across the face. She stumbled and her powers blinked out. She shook her head to regain her focus and looked back at him, "What in the hell…?"

Her eyes widened. In his left hand, the man held the trigger device. In his right, he held a small cylinder with blinking lights on it. He grinned.

"It's a metahuman psychic dampener. Lexcorp makes 'em… my brother works there, got me this little beauty 'cause the crazy guy next door to me lights himself on fire some times…"

"You're fucking kidding me." Raven deadpanned.

"Afraid not. Now back off or I blow us all up."

"You're going to blow us all up anyway." Raven rolled her eyes.

"Raven!" Lilith's voice came from somewhere behind her, "I can't hear his thoughts anymore!"

"I know." Raven called back, "Stay back."

"Back off, bitch." The man growled.

Raven started to back up, then just as quickly darted forward. She grabbed the man and fell back with him, planting a foot in his gut as she did. She rolled on her back and used all her strength to throw him towards the other side of the store.

He hit the ground hard, and even though he kept his grip on the dampener, the trigger flew from his hand. As soon as his finger was off of it, a high pitched beeping started emanating form his body.

Raven and Lilith both froze as the bomber slowly stood up, dropping his coat to the floor as he did. The explosives were wrapped around him like a girdle. His grin told them everything they needed to know.

"Okay," Raven noted, "so… maybe not one of my better plans."

"You think?!?" Lilith shrieked.

"You two are dead! No way you can out run this boom!" the man started laughing like crazy. It seemed he couldn't stop.

Raven was at a loss. The dampener would keep her teleportation powers from working, so there was no way to get rid of the bomb, she didn't know if she could get close enough or if she was fast enough to disarm it, and she still had Lilith to worry about-

Her eyes snapped over to Lilith. The red haired girl was looking up at a sign directly above where the man was standing. It was long, and read, "Women's." Raven hadn't even noticed they were in the clothing department. The sign was at least fifteen feet long, and it looked solid and heavy. It was being held to the ceiling at two points by two cables.

And one had taken a stray round as she had emptied the gun of it's bullets a short time ago. It just happened to be the one furthest from the man.

The crazy man with the armed bomb that was standing right in front of a large window.

Raven's eyes widened as Lilith turned to the clothing rack next to her and yanked one of the detachable arms off of it. She turned back to the sign and shouted, "Hey! Asshole!"

The man stopped laughing and looked at her dumbly. Lilith grinned and looked him right in the eye, "Did you know I can see the future? My name is Omen. And have I got a sign for you!"

Lilith hurled the bar at the sign hanging above the man and her aim was dead on. The cord holding it broke, and with only one cord now holding it up, the sign swung down at the man like a battering ram. It hit him full in the chest, and blasted him back off his feet, through the window, and out into the air beyond in a shower of broken glass.

There was a lull. It seemed like time had slowed down for a moment. Raven's eyes were wide with shock, Lilith's eyes were wide with excitement, and the bomber's eyes were wide with surprise.

The bomb exploded when the man was ten feet past the edge of the window.

* * *

Raven coughed as she pulled herself out of a pile of clothes and twisted racks, thanking Azar that her powers had kicked in as soon as the bomb had gone off and the dampener had been destroyed. She had manadged to protect herself, but Lilith had been much closer to the blast than she had, and all those windows and glass-

"Lilly!" Raven shouted, waving aside some of the dust that was thick in the air. "Lilly can you hear me?"

The store was decimated. Raven only hoped that they'd bought enough time for most of the shoppers to get out after the gun shots had started. There was rubble everywhere, and a gaping hole in the side of the building. Looking across the expanse that revealed the floor below them and part of the floor above, Raven saw Lilith splayed out on a hunk of rock.

"Lilith!" she shouted, "Hold on! I'm coming for you!" she started to lift up off the ground to fly, but something in the back of her mind wouldn't work right.

Her focus was all over the place. Worry for her friend, and a light buzz that was still there from the dampener were shorting out the powers that really took concentration.

"Lilly, don't move! Stay right where you are and I'll get you!" Raven shouted again. She tried her powers, tried to focus, but she just couldn't summon the mental fortitude. "Shit, shit, shit!"

Looking around desperately, Raven picked out a route around the crater in the side of the building, "Lilly, I can't get to you directly. I'll have to go up and around. Just hold tight!" and she started picking her way through the rubble to get to her friend.

* * *

Lilith heard Raven shouting at her, and her dream from the night before came back to her. Her ears were ringing from the explosion, and she'd hit her head when she fell down… no wonder she could barely hear Raven in the dream.

"Raven…" she muttered back, "No… its okay… I've seen this…" Raven shouted something else, but she really couldn't hear. Looking down to her side, she lifted her hand and saw what she expected to see, "Wow… that's a lot of blood…"

The red liquid stained her hand and the rock next to her head. The rock was rubble from the building exploding, and the red was blood. Funny, she didn't really feel much pain.

Raven shouted something again, and even though she couldn't really hear too well, Lilith nodded anyway, albeit weakly. She looked up, straight ahead and saw the bright light. It was coming right for her.

Was she dying? Was this death? It didn't hurt at all… much better than she thought it would be, especially from getting blown up. Maybe she was paralyzed.

But wait… if she was paralyzed, then why could she still move her arm? And he legs? Yep, she could move her legs.

Looking back up, she saw that light was sill coming at her.

"Raven…" she muttered as her eyes went wide, "I'm there… I'm… here…"

The world snapped back into focus, "Ga!" she shouted, "I _need _to be over there!"

Lilith hurled herself to the side just as a light fixture from the floor above crashed down where her head had just been. Rolling to her feet, the red head scrambled up off the bit of rubble that was threatening to fall into the hole any second and on to more stable wreckage. She looked down at her hand and saw a long cut on her arm that was only now starting to sting, but no other injuries. She touched the side of her face, and felt wetness there though. Confused, she turned and found a mirror that was miraculously still intact.

Her ears were bleeding. The explosion shock wave had burst her ears. That's why she couldn't hear anything!

Then Raven was at her side, holding a glowing hand to her right ear, wincing as Lilith's hearing came flooding back rather quickly. "Are you okay, Raven?"

Raven nodded, "Not a scratch on me. I won't be able to hear out of my right ear for a day or so though… I'll fix your left one after that, but I can do your arm now if you want…"

"No, don't hurt yourself anymore than you have to…"

Raven looked up at her, "How'd you know my healing powers caused me pain?"

Lilith blinked back at her, then grinned, "Because I can read your mind, silly!"

* * *

Somehow, there were no deaths. Multiple injuries, some of them quite severe, but the police and EMTs seemed confident that everyone would make it. Raven and Lilith got checked out at the ambulances, then gave their statements to the police. When asked their names, they glanced at each other.

Raven spoke for herself, "Raven. I'm with the Titans in Jump City."

"A Cape. Great." The detective taking their statements sighed, "I hate doing Cape paperwork. Who's your friend?"

Lilith paused for just a moment then, staring at Raven the whole time, replied, "I'm called Omen. I'm with the Titans too."

"Perfect." The detective rolled his eyes, "And the perp died how?"

"We couldn't get the bomb off of him in time," Raven shook her head, "There was nothing we could do except try to minimize civilian causalities."

"Alright." The cop shook his head again, "Fuckin'… Capes. Gonna be a late night tonight…" he continued to mutter as he walked away.

Raven and Lilith looked at each other for a beat then burst out laughing. As they turned to walk back to the hotel, Raven eyed her friend with a smirk, "Omen, huh?"

"Do you like it? I thought it sounded really cool." Lilith gushed.

Raven laughed again.

* * *

The two young women found themselves walking down by Navy Peer, mostly deserted in the colder months, but still with a few hot dog vendors around, and several of the souvenir hawkers still shilling their wares.

As Raven paid for two double dipped ice cream cones and handed one to Lilith, she asked her friend, "So how did you survive the explosion any way?"

Lilith shrugged, "I knew it was going off soon, so I made sure I was behind a rack of heavy jackets. Never underestimate the stopping power of twenty layers of women's wool coats."

Raven giggled, "I guess. Mostly the Titans get by on highly advanced anti-ballistics body armor. It stops everything from knives and arrows to bullets and lasers."

Lilith shuddered, "I'm not looking forward to that part. It sounds so dangerous."

Raven nodded, "It is. But if you're serious about this… and I really hope you are… then we'll make sure you're a hundred percent field ready before we send you out into combat. You'll be regulated to a support position anyway. Like Kylee."

"Now I think what I did today was pretty impressive for my first time, but that kid… man talk about brave." Lilith smiled, "You must be the proudest mom ever."

"She's not really my daughter you know." Raven smiled as well.

"I know, but still… she's becoming everything you hope your kids become. Kind, and brave, and smart, and tough, and she's got that spunky happy streak in her that makes everyone around her feel so… good, I guess."

"Hmm." Raven nodded, "She does have that, doesn't she. And I am proud, it's just…" she shook her head, "While you pulled your little drunken stunt last night I got called back to Jump to help the kids fight a really nasty monster from outer space." Lilith arched an eyebrow but Raven ignored her look, "By the time I got there they had already taken care of it but… they were all banged up. Even Wonder Girl looked a little worse for wear and she's the toughest one of the Teen Titans…" Raven stared at her ice cream, her good mood lost, "I worry about her. So much."

Lilith's hand on her shoulder made her look up, "Rae, she's a real pro already. She's good at what she does, and she's got that whole team to back her up. She'll be great, and you know it."

"I do." Raven nodded, "But I still worry. Mothers do that."

"Do you want me to look and see what I can see?" Lilith lifted both her eyebrows, "I can't guarantee you'll like though… visions are funny like that."

Raven stared for a second. Would she get another death prophesy like she had last night? She silently debated for a moment, "Would you? For me?"

Lilith nodded and handed Raven her ice cream. She stood still in the middle of Navy Peer and cleared her mind and dug deep in her own soul, looking for the feelings of gratitude and awe she felt towards Seraph.

After a moment, her cheeks turned red and she let out a little, "Eep!"

"What?" Raven looked stressed, "What did you see?"

"Um… I know what her outfit is going to look like in about five years… and I know who she'll be dating… I mean, man they were really going at it…"

Raven put a hand on her forehead, "Great, she's going to be a slut like her foster mom… It'd have to take a lot to make _you_ blush like that…"

"Don't you know it, sister." Lilith laughed and they continued their walk back to the hotel.

After a moment Raven leaned over and nudged her, "So who's the lucky guy gonna be?"

Lilith smiled back at her, then leaned down and whispered in her ear.

Raven jerked back and stared at her with a wild grin and wide eyes, "No! Really? No way!" Lilith just nodded her head and grinned wider. "Aw… Roy is gonna _flip out_ when he hears this!"

* * *

Later that night, Raven stepped out of the bedroom of their suite and shut the door quietly. She walked over to the couch and sat down on it, wearing only a white tank top and her underwear. She picked her T-Comp up off the table and flipped it open, punching in a hail code.

A moment later a dark face appeared on the screen, _"What, Raven?"_

Raven rolled her eyes, "Take a deep breath, count to ten and try to talk to me like you're not Batman, Dick."

Nightwing sighed, _"I'm sorry. I can't find Jenny anywhere."_

"Have Oracle look into it."

_"I am."_

Raven sighed, then closed her eyes. After a moment, she opened them again. "She's stressed, angry and feeling like she has something to prove. I caught a glimpse of the moon behind a tall spired building."

Nightwing looked up at the sky, _"West of Wayne Tower then. That'll help. Now what can I do for you?"_

"Lilith is joining. Her code name will be Omen."

_"Does this have anything to do with the bomber that blew up a department store today?"_

"Um… yeah."

_"The DEAD bomber that blew up a department store today?"_

"We couldn't have saved him if we'd tried. I'm sorry Dick… I know you don't like it when-"

_"Don't."_ Nightwing shook his head_, "I'm sorry I got snappy. We can't save everyone."_ He looked away from the com, _"I have to go. Will you two be much longer?"_

"A week, I think." Raven noted, "I want to be sure she has a solid grasp of her powers before we head back."

_"Agreed."_ He nodded, _"Call me if you have any updates."_

"Will do. Raven out." And she flipped her com shut.

Tossing it down on the table, she leaned back. "Another Titan for the fold." She muttered, and then frowned, "Which 'he,' Lilly? Who's going to die?"

* * *

Closing Notes – It's not even that long. It just took me a year and a half to write. God, I'm such a slacker… More soon… I hope.

Next Time – Cyborg and Changeling's Super Day


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